


The Mission

by boomerangarrow, SaphyreDaze, v_sida



Series: Soltryce Days [11]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-13 15:29:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 56,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28780518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boomerangarrow/pseuds/boomerangarrow, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaphyreDaze/pseuds/SaphyreDaze, https://archiveofourown.org/users/v_sida/pseuds/v_sida
Summary: Evie and Eleanor get summoned for another mission, but this time with a surprise third companion: Anala.
Series: Soltryce Days [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2096178
Kudos: 3





	1. Summons

**Author's Note:**

> Evie written by SaphyreDaze  
> Eleanor written by BoomerangArrow  
> Anala written by V_sida

Anala was just starting to get the hang of the intense training schedule. They still pushed her beyond all right and reason, but she was learning to survive it. It hurt. Always left her feeling like less than herself. But she was surviving. It had been a while since she’d last been in a training session that had required her to light up the whole shebang, almost starting to feel normal again, when they called her with slightly different instructions than usual. 

Obviously, she was not a _proper_ student. She was just some _child_ from Bysaes Tyl of all places. They made this part very clear. But they also told her she’d have the chance to bring some worth to her name over the next couple of days. Anala stood there like a good and pretty little soldier, listening to the words and trying to let them pass by her. The long and short of it was, she was leaving Rexxentrum. Travelling to the Lebenda Swamp where she was to investigate rumours of a band of cultists worshipping a betrayer god trying to raise a monster from the abyss to help them lay waste to the Empire. Anala didn’t know what to think about that recount. They wouldn’t allow her to say anything against their word anyway. 

As expected, they didn’t provide her with any supplies. But they did inform her that she would be assigned two partners to keep an eye on her. Make sure she didn’t do anything out of turn. Similarly, they expected her to inform them of any odd behaviour on their parts too. 

So there she sat. Back in her adventuring gear, adjusting the straps on her forearm braces as she waited for whoever was supposed to be accompanying her.

Evie had just finished using her walkie talkie to inform the rest of the group what was going on and that they were going to be gone for awhile and was cursing in infernal under her breath, _“I mean at least we’re together this time but making us_ **_babysit_ ** _it’s bullshit.”_ she shifted her pack, focused on her sister, _“Think it's some newbie? Or maybe one of the other teacher’s kids. Hells I hope it's not one of Ikithon’s.”_

Eleanor groaned softly. “ _Gods fucking know why they’re doing this,_ ” she agreed, rolling her eyes. “ _It’s probably some new kid we’ve never fucking met, with a stupid chip on their shoulder over being dumb and inexperienced._ ”

Evie grabbed the handle to the door where they were supposed to pick up whoever this was, she was in a sour mood, none of these missions went well and now they’d have another person to worry about. She hated it. _“We’ll just have to suck it up. Let’s get this over with.”_ Evie was very glad for her years of training at keeping a game face on because for a split second she almost lost her composure when she saw Anala sitting there. She reached back for her sister and pulled her forward, “Well well well, sis, look what we have here.” she said coolly, not taking her eyes off the elf. 

“ _We’ll be fine. Worst case, we can just make them wait while we do the important shit._ ” Eleanor was a little surprised when she was yanked forward, though, managing to only raise an eyebrow instead of letting the shock be clear on her face when she spotted the elf. “Oh, joy,” she said softly, forcing sarcasm into her tone. “So great to see you, Anala.”

Anala had the blessed advantage of facing the door with Barton being behind her. The twins walked in and she immediately felt much better about this whole mission. Not that it showed, even with the back of her head turned to Barton she wouldn’t risk it. She’d risk it a little bit. Anala sent a wink their way and slowly stood, saying nothing. Barton filled in that task for her. 

“Trainees, I believe you’ve already met. You’ll be departing immediately, Ms. Tatjana has declined to bring anything with her, hopefully you will be more prepared.” They nodded to Evie and Eleanor in turn, stiff and proper like only someone trying to mimic a noble upbringing could.

“Don’t worry. We’ll teach her how we do things here. Get that impetuous attitude in check.” she crossed her arms, leaning in the doorway, “We getting horses? At least until we get closer to Lebenda?” 

“Someone’s got to keep her in line, I’d imagine. Might as well be us.” El shrugged, placing a hand on Evie’s shoulder.

Anala ground her teeth together, staring an unblinking line down at the both of them. “I’ll be fine. You just watch yourselves.” At the slightest hint of her frustration, Barton’s eyes snapped to her, frowning. 

“You’ll have horses for you at the gate.” There was an extended, slightly awkward pause. They waved their hand towards the group. “Leave now.”

Evie pushed herself off the wall looking at Anala, “Lets go, newbie.” she turned and went out the door, exchanging a quick look with her sister. 

“Thank you for the consideration, Master Barton. We’ll make sure she behaves. Come along!” Then Eleanor glanced at her sister, turning on her heel and assuming Anala would follow. It felt a little strange, being so dismissive towards their friend, but keeping up appearances was important in this moment.

Anala sent a glance back to Barton, then followed. She kept her face neutral, her hands busy with mindlessly adjusting where the bracer sat. Content to continue walking in silence until one of the twins indicated they were far enough away from Barton and whatever other eyes might be on them.

Evie looked around as they walked looking over her shoulder only once to check to see if they were being followed. Once she felt they weren’t in any danger of being overhead she let out a breath, she slowed a bit falling in step with Anala “Holy shit I’m _so_ sorry about that. They didn’t tell us who they were sending us with.” 

Anala’s neutral expression broke, eyes widening as Evie spoke honestly. She gave into making a quick look around, then her face split into a grin. “Ha! Don’t even worry about it!” She kept her excited shouting to a stage whisper, snatching the back of Eleanor’s coat to pull her into step with them and wrapping her arms around the both of their shoulders to pull them into a hug. “I was fucking _terrified_ for this mission, this is going to be SO much better.”

Eleanor was relieved as Anala tugged her back, bumping against her a little as they went. “Yeah, we kind of needed to keep up the act, but--gods, I’m _so_ glad it’s you that we’re doing this mission with. I was so worried I’d have to play the part the entire time, which is _exhausting._ This should be _much_ better, darling.”

Anala made a noise and reigned in her excitement, letting her arms fall from their shoulders after a moment, trying not to make it look too unnatural. “Sorry, usually better at that. Way too much nervous energy. Once we’re outside the city walls though.” She passed a look between the two of them. “Tell me about it. I’m regretting the grumpy quiet front for this program, but it just works.”

“I totally get it. I have to keep this ‘cocky bitch who will fight literally anyone and anything’ attitude going because...that’s what I was.” she shrugged, “This is going to be very interesting for sure. These missions always suck, but the quality of company has improved significantly. I can’t really complain.” she smiled at Anala, raising an eyebrow, “The whole no traveling gear thing was a bold move.” 

“Cold bitch isn’t too far removed, some days, but it’s definitely exaggerated for days like these.” Eleanor shrugged a little, glancing over at the mention of the traveling gear. “I respect it, though. Even if you did have them, why not waste their resources a little?” She grinned, just for a moment, before letting the smile drop as they reached the gates. She stepped forward to talk to someone, letting that same cold bitch persona come to the surface again as she figured out the situation. A moment later, two horses were led out to them, equipped with traveling gear. She turned back to the others, an eyebrow raised. “They only paid for two, apparently.”

Anala gave a slightly nervous laugh and a shrug. “I’ve seen Farren track someone down from knowing an item on their possession alone, just didn’t want that rattling around in my head. Besides, I can just summon Galder’s and get everything we need once per 24 hours.” It wouldn’t be as good as the tower was when she summoned it in her group, but it was going to be something impressive to show off for the twins, that was for sure. Anala watched the horses get brought out to them. Just the two. “Guess they wanted more reasons for us to get ticked off with each other? I’m happy to ride with either of you if you don’t mind it.” It felt like something up to them to figure out, so Anala chose a horse to take by the reins, smoothening her palm over its nose to see that it wouldn’t be too stressed around a new person. 

Evie looked between the horses, “We can figure it out.” she reached out and pet the other horse. This was the only time she ever really got a chance to see horses up close and last time she was around them she was so stressed out. She looked to the other two.

El was trying to hide her grin as she took the other horse’s reins, murmuring to it for a moment. “We can redistribute, put more on my horse. You can ride with Anala, Evie. Don’t we need to keep a close eye on our newest team member?” The teasing was clear in her voice, even as she took the time to get her horse to relax. “Plus, half the time when you sit behind me, you sit on my fucking tail. I won’t have it.”

Evie scowled at her sister, “That’s only because your ass is so big it takes up more space then there’s room for the both of us.” she barked a laugh, shaking her head. 

“It’s not my fault you’ve got a flat ass, darling.”

“I do not! Look I run every day to deserve this and work out at least every other,” she motioned to herself, flexing a little, “What’s your excuse?” 

“My excuse is good genetics and curves,” she spat back, grinning like a shithead. “And I’ve not had any complaints so far, so I’d say I don’t need one.”

“We have the same genetics dipshit.” 

“And yet I’m the pretty one,” she teased, snorting immediately. “One of us has got to get dates.”

“We have the same FUCKING FACE.” her face started getting a little red, “And that’s not _my_ fault.”

“It’s all in the attitude, dear.”

“Well you can have all the attitude, I clearly got the brains.”

“Considering you can’t talk to a cute person to save your life, I fucking doubt it.”

Evie sputtered a reply for a moment considering putting her sister’s...dating habits into question. 

Anala listened to all this going down with an amused little smile while she reloaded the horses, making sure it was a more even weight. Then looked back to the other two while they continued being distracted and laughed. “Girls! Both your asses look amazing, can we go now?” 

Evie’s head snapped to Anala, laughing, “Shit. Thanks Anala. Yeah. Let’s.” she rolled her eyes at her sister, ending in a playful glare. 

Eleanor just grinned, tossing Anala a wink. “Thanks, beautiful. Yours is pretty nice, too. But let’s get going, sunlight’s only gonna last so long and I’d rather get out of town sooner than later.”

Anala grinned back to them and hopped up on her horse, turning its side towards Evie and offering her a hand up.

Evie took her hand and hoisted herself behind Anala, wrapping her arms around the elf’s waist. 

Eleanor took a moment to hop up into the saddle of her horse, getting comfortable after a moment. “Well, let’s be on our way.” Shifting the reins, she gently nudged the horse’s side with her heel and started out the gates.

Anala waited to be sure Evie was settled in before nudging her horse along towards the outside of the gates. _Hells, it felt good to be out again_. She quickly picked up speed to a comfortable pace, glancing back at Evie behind her and Eleanor on her own horse. “Do you two ride much?” 

Evie shook her head, “Outside of learning to ride and the few missions we’ve been on, not really. There really isn’t much of a need when you’re cooped up in the city.” 

“Not especially, but it’s a skill I’ve tried to build a little. I also know how to ride sidesaddle, but… I don’t like to, when I can avoid it. The things you learn when you’re trying to pretend you’re a member of polite society.” El shrugged, running a hand through her hair. “Do either of you know how long it’ll take us to reach Lebenda?”

“My guess is four or five days. Depends on how distracted we get.” Anala answered with a playful grin. “Want to put your practice to the test?” Anala dropped her voice to a whisper to Evie. “Might want to hold on a little tighter there, love.” Then with no more warning than that, kicked their horse into high speed, taking off down the road and leaving Rexxentrum as far behind as she could as quickly as possible. Glancing back only once to check that they weren’t leaving Eleanor behind.

Evie let out a surprised cry, wrapping her arms tighter around Anala before breaking out into a laugh, “Nine hells a little more warning.” she shook her head, glancing back a moment to check on her sister. 

“Don’t fall,” El called, laughing as she spurred her own horse on. It felt amazing, watching the outskirts dissolve into fields as they rode, the wind blowing her hair out of her face easily. After a while, she called out to Evie and Anala. “I think I like this better than teleporting!”

Anala kept her gaze ahead, counting down the seconds and minutes that they put between them and that city. “Where would be the fun in that?” She teased back to Evie. “Have to agree with you there!” She called back to Eleanor amidst a laugh. Eventually the horses did have to slow down from the all out sprint, but at least it allowed her to steer in a little closer to Eleanor. “My group are thinking of getting a caravan for travel. Put a ton of enchantments on it, protective wards you can’t put on people or creatures sort of thing. I’m fucking excited to get out.” That meant a horse or two as well. It would be nice having some normal animals around for company. Not that familiars and Zy’s new wolf-dog weren’t lovely too.

Evie nodded, “A caravan would be a good cover too if you can get your hands on things to trade. I was thinking about something like that too actually.” she let out a small laugh, “One of my many back up of back up plans, because I’m neurotic and don’t have anything better to do.” she scowled a minute, realizing that all those plans were in her notebook she had somehow managed to misplace and had yet to locate.

“You’re right, Evie,” Eleanor replied with a grin. “You _are_ neurotic. But it’s why we love you.” She spotted the scowl but ignored it, hoping that it wasn’t due to something she’d done to keep her plan working. “But a caravan could be nice. Riding for a week straight is gonna leave my arse sore as all hell, and I will _absolutely_ make that someone else’s problem for fun if I get bored.” She laughed, though, still excited for the three of them to be out in the world and on their own. “Zy mentioned his tattoos the other day, and I’m still thinking about it. I’ve spent years worrying about getting approval from Da’leth and making sure I look the part of a perfectly normal diplomat, but gods, the idea of doing what I want with myself… It’s pretty exciting.”

Anala nodded along to Eleanor’s sentiment about Evie being neurotic. Just a little bit. It was important. “Over planning can help keep you safe, just go easy on yourself every now and then.” Evie had this. She’d be just fine. “I’ll make sure the tower has a spa room for you at night, how about it Eleanor?” She laughed, hoping the travel wouldn’t wear her down too much. It would be no fun for any of them if it did. “Yeah? I got one from Zy, not the gold piece, but one on my leg.” 

"I'm trying to be better about it. I think I inherited the neurotic tendencies from our father. Probably our mother too. They were strategists by trade." She shrugged a little, "And we should make sure to take breaks, we don't know exactly what we're up against entirely and if we're caught exhausted it could be bad news for us." She was a little more worried about Anala then her or her sister, she knew that Da'leth had been training the elf hard, "The tattoos are so cool. Eleanor told me about Zys. And the ones on your back are stunning. Haven't seen the leg one yet, what is it of?" She almost made a comment about wanting to see it but wasn't sure if that would be weird to ask, so instead of accidentally embarrassing herself she looked to her sister, "El if you want some I can design them for you. I had actually been messing with some ideas," she shrugged, "they're cool. And Da'leth can go fuck himself. I've been getting piercings against his wishes for years. It's been _great._ Join me in the body modification rebellion, my dear sister. _"_

“I’m not going to say _no_ to a spa room, but it isn’t _too_ necessary.” El laughed, shaking her head. “I’m not that soft, I swear. And yes, you probably _did_ get it from papa. He was the most cautious man I’ve ever met.” There was a bit of a pause as she felt the sadness well up in her--the pain of their parents’ death never quite left, not really. “If you want to design some for me, I’d love that. I think it could be fun. And I do have _some_ modifications--have you not seen all the jewelry in my ears?” 

"Hopefully we won't need to take too many breaks if we rest well. You know, the spa is going to help with that." Anala leaned back a little into Evie, nudging her for her take. She hadn't said anything against the idea of the spa, but she hadn't said anything for it either. "We'll figure out what we want in the tower when we make camp, see how we feel then." But one of these days, a spa for sure. "Zy designed something for me! It was super sweet, I got him to put it just here." Anala pat her thigh where the tattoo was. "I can show you later." She offered, voice flirty and playful, but mainly, shamelessly, flirty. "Yeah, Da'leth had an issue with my back tattoo. Makes a point of making sure I keep it covered which... gross. But it's winter! It wasn't going to be visible most of the time anyway."

“Ear piercing are child’s play, El. You can come at me when you’re at my level.” She playfully flicked her tail in her sister’s direction, the hoops though the spade catching the sun ever so slightly, “And I’m good either way. I’ve never been to a spa so I really can’t have an opinion one way or another. And Da’leth is a dick. He’s made shitty comments about my piercings a few times and usually I take them out when I see him but you know, lately I just haven’t really cared as much.” She pulled at her tail and tucked it back into her coat, “I just want to be warm tonight. More than anything. It’s getting fucking _cold_ , and once the sun goes down it’s going to be worse. “ 

“Yeah, Da’leth fucking sucks,” El agreed. “But I would love to have something cool. And I’d also love to see your other tattoos, Anala. Maybe if we get bored enough, we can give me a piercing or two while we’re on the road.” She laughed softly. “Don’t worry, if we have the big blanket room, tieflings are _very_ warm. Or, worst case, Leomund’s Tiny Hut is temperature controlled.”

Anala reached up to her ear to remember if she’d put anything on them. There was one simple gold cuff on the top of her ear. “I haven’t gotten around to getting any actual piercings yet.” Probably should. “I really like yours though.” A little bit of 

good inspiration, even if she didn’t have a tail, that was cool. “If you’ve never been you have to try it, I model the one I make off of one in Zedash.” She’d been to a couple to know what she liked, oh the advantages of travelling. “Yeah? The tower isn’t too bad at keeping warm, but I’ll keep that in mind.” She grinned over to Eleanor and sent her a wink. The tower managed to be warm and dry no matter where they were, and Anala tended to run hot too. But that wasn’t important.

Evie’s grin widened, “I mean El and I did each other’s ears and my septum and tail I did myself so we could definitely make it happen if you’re up for it. It just takes a moderately high pain tolerance, which I’m going to guess you have, all things considered.” She rested her chin on Anala’s shoulder, “I look forward to seeing what it's like then, a spa. And tieflings have a higher natural body temperature then other humanoids so we’re pretty good at helping keep others warm.” She smirked, a bit of warmth coming to her freezing face. 

“And maybe a healing potion if you really fuck it up, but it’s not that hard.” Eleanor hummed, considering. “I don’t know what kind of piercing I’d want, though. What do you think would look good?” The idea of the spa was growing on her, honestly, and she was looking forward to it. “I don’t doubt it, I just haven’t had a chance to cast that spell for myself yet. I can’t wait to see what it’s like.”

"I have no clue what piercings would look good on me, you could pull off anything, El. But I do want to get back to you on that. See what I like first. It'd be a crime to not take advantage of your talents at some point on our trip." Anala's heart warmed as Evie set her chin on her shoulder, nudging the horse to slow down just a little more so it wouldn't be so bouncy while she was there. "Well, that's another thing I'll need to be sure to take advantage of, huh?" At the mention of Eleanor having the tower as well, her brain started going through the options of having two castings of the tower. "You could try it? I could show you a few tricks?"

Evie replied with a small hum, “Just let me know what you’d like and I’d be more than happy to. We’ve got like almost two week’s worth of traveling to decide.” Evie closed her eyes for a moment, just taking in the fresh air, “It smells so _different_ out here.” she let out a laugh, “that sounded weird. Wow.” 

“Lots of time to get up to mischief,” El agreed. She laughed, shaking her head at her sister’s comment. “You sure you aren’t just smelling Anala, dear?” Looking over to Anala, though, she considered. “I think you’d look cute with a nose piercing. You’ll look cute with anything, though, don’t worry.” She winked. “But any pointers you have on the tower are absolutely welcome. I want to learn how to do it well, and you’ve got a lot more experience than I do.”

Anala grinned at Eleanor’s teasing, dropping her voice to a whisper. “Are you saying I smell?” She asked Evie, unable to stop the laugh bubbling up. A nose piercing would be cool. She could pull a mirror up once they were camped, do a couple illusions to test it out. “First thing to get rid of is the default ladders in the build. I’ve got you, it’s going to be _great_.” The comfiest magical temporary home.

Evie glared over at her sister, face going a bit pinker, “ _No._ You smell good--fine--I was talking about...the nature? Outside. Out here. Cuz we’re always in the _city._ ” she floundered shooting Eleanor another glare. Her sister had something coming from all this teasing, she may be able to keep her cool but unless Evie really tried it didn’t come as easily for her, “I look forward to seeing whatever the tower ends up looking like. Hells I love magic. Not having to sleep in the dirt is _great._ ”

Eleanor saw Evie’s flush and grinned to herself. _Perfect._ “I definitely like the idea of a proper place to sleep instead of the fucking ground in the tiny hut. I like being comfortable.” She laughed a little. “What do you do instead of the ladders?”

Anala bit her lip, trying not to laugh at Evie’s flustered response. “You’re fine, love.” She assured her quietly after enough time, dropping her hand to squeeze her knee. “Comfortable sleeping spot is even better after travelling the whole day.” That and a spa. They were absolutely doing the spa. “So you know how you can control what furniture ends up in the tower? Minimal tweaking needed, just make a portable-style, wooden staircase structure. Like what they have in libraries? The tricky part is making the gap in the ceiling wider, and turning the staircase into stone, and making it curve with the tower if you want a circular one. But that all comes with practice and you’ll have no problem!” Once they got out and practiced every day. They’d come up with their own tricks for Anala’s group to take on too.


	2. Evenings Respite

They traveled for a few more hours as the sun reached its zenith and started declining in the sky. Aside from idle chatting with the other two, Evie slipped in and out of half consciousness, there wasn’t much else to do when you weren’t having to focus on steering a horse. She could feel the cold creeping in as the sun got lower. She gave Anala a little squeeze, “We should probably find a place to make camp soon. The sun’s setting fast.” 

Eleanor hummed, nodding a little. “I’d be happy to stop if you’re getting tired, Evie. Not gonna lie, my ass is pretty sore. I’ve never ridden for so long in one day, and… Fuck, I’m tired.” She glanced over at Anala, smiling. “Where would work to cast the spell for the night, you think? I think it needs a ten foot square, but I could be mistaken…”

Anala felt a little weary. It could be worse. But she had the advantage of being very used to travelling. “Ten foot square will be good, make it easy.” She slowed her horse right down, steering off of the path to find some space off of the road, somewhere between the infrequent trees. “Bigger than that if we want to cast two. Here could work?” She stopped the horse completely, checking that the road was only just in sight. She reached back, giving Evie’s knee a little squeeze to silently let her know they’d stopped and that it was okay to hop off the horse now.

“I could easily keep going but the concern is that it’s going to get dark fast and it’s not safe to travel at night.” She chided her sister with a slight eye roll as she slid off the horse.. She was a little tired but it was a legitimate concern. Her and Ellyn had jumped Lorkas at night, and it was a common strategy for bandits. She stretched, trying to work out some of the sorer muscles from the day of riding, “While you two do that I’m going to scout the area a bit, just to make sure. She summoned Kore and leaned against a nearby tree, her eyes glazing over as Kore’s glowed. The feline darted into the woods as she scouted the area.

“Sounds perfect.” Eleanor hopped off her own horse, starting to pace around. “This looks great. I don’t have the spell prepared today, so we can’t have two, but… I’ll be sure to prepare it in the future, if we want to both cast it.” 

Anala jumped down from her horse, looping the reins around a nearby tree branch. “Tomorrow then.” It wasn’t as if they didn’t have plenty of time during this trip. She pulled her hair out of its knot and sat herself down on the ground while she re-tied it. “Depending on how fancy we want to get, I can do six floors today by burning up some energy. Kitchen is a must. I like having an empty ground floor to put in some security. Spa. Planning and maps room would be nice? But as soon as we do that someone loses a bedroom if we wanted to have all of us on a separate floor? There’s a couple other things I can do, libraries, observatory, if you’re happy for me to show off.”

El nodded a little, humming. “You don’t have to burn up too much energy if you don’t want, but… I don’t think Evie would mind losing a room.” She raised an eyebrow, smirking. “She can bunk up with you. Don’t want you getting cold, Anala. But a spa could be nice, and maybe a kitchen. I like that plan, anyway. Do you think a sixty-foot tower will draw attention, though?”

Anala laid out her spellbook and dug around for a fragment of shiny white metal in her component pouch. “Usually a little? But there’s not much a regular person can do when a giant, impossibly tall adamantine tower pops up in the middle of nowhere and disappears in the morning, you know?” When it was easier for people to ignore something, more often than not they did. “With just the three of us it makes sense to go a little more subtle though. Blank ground floor, spa, kitchen, bedroom?” Anala noted them down as she prepped the spell. “Looks like I won’t need to worry too much about getting cold, hm?”

El nodded, looking at the piece of metal. “Adamantine? That’s amazing.” She grinned, crossing her arms. “I think four stories is a good plan. Security, comfort, food, and a place to sleep.” She nudged Anala gently, glancing back to Evie for a moment. “Guess you won’t, no. I absolutely don’t mind snuggling up with my sister, but… I think she might be a little more interested in keeping warm with you, if I’m being honest. I don’t think she’s willing to admit it, but I know her a little too well. She’s terrible at flirting, though, apologies.”

“The trouble we went to getting these pieces has been well worth it.” Anala could perform the spell with her eyes closed by now. It felt weird doing it without the others… but still the sense of familiarity was there, and very welcome. As she weaved the spell together, she laughed, joyful and amused by Eleanor’s nudging. “I don’t mind, it’s cute.” That was far from something that was making her pull back. “You know her better than anyone, you’re sure she’s alright? After what happened with Vi?” She still hadn’t heard her mention Vi once, she didn’t want to potentially get in the way of sorting out unresolved issues.

“I need to talk to Kurdu, see if he can’t help me get my hands on some.” El laughed as well, then froze. _Fuck._ The one question she’d hoped to avoid. “She’s alright,” she said softly, running a hand through her hair. “Just… It’s a bit complex. If you really want, I can explain it, but there’s a lot that’s happened and I don’t really… Know how to explain it simply, if I’m being honest.” She looked over to Evie, still blind as she scouted with her familiar. “I have her best interests at heart, though. I promise.”

Anala frowned at Eleanor, not sure what could possibly be going on. But she nodded. “Okay.” She spoke softly, nodding. “Tell me another time? Unless you need help with whatever is going on, then I’ve got your backs, no problem.” She’d walk carefully with whatever had happened with Evie. But she was glad that Eleanor had this.

“I might in the future, I’m still figuring some things out. But… Just don’t mention Vi, please?” El smiled, looking a little tense. “I can fill you in another time, though. Thank you for trusting me.”

Anala just nodded, she could do that. Don’t mention Vi. She hoped things would be alright. “Any last minute requests? Food? Drink? Anything? I’m making comfy clothes for myself, don’t need to be in travel gear all the time.”

“Comfy clothes sound amazing. And uh... Bacon for the morning, I think. And if you’re feeling _especially_ like relaxing, I’d never complain to whiskey.” El grinned, all the cheer immediately returned to her face.

Evie shook her head as she came to again, Kore coming through the bushes, “Whiskey sounds amazing. Also it’s pretty clear. There’s a family of skunks nearby we should probably steer clear of. They’re really cute though.” she smiled at the other two, “Did I miss anything interesting?” 

Anala was about to respond to Eleanor when Evie chimed in again. “Welcome back, darling. Whiskey it is then. Ten usually handles that part of the build but I’m sure I can remember how it’s done.” She laughed to herself, scrunching and flexing her fingers as a circular, four story tower materialized before them. “We decided on traps on the first floor, then spa, kitchen, and sleeping room at the top.” She filled Evie in with a smile, collecting her things and standing up. “Care for a tour?” She grinned back at the two of them, opening up the door to show a blank room with a couple of torches and a staircase curving around the edge of the room, which she set off towards, glancing back at the twins to see that they were close behind.

“I believe in your ability to create us some drinks,” Eleanor teased, grinning. When the tower showed up, she gasped a little--it was the first time she’d seen the spell, and it was kind of amazing. “A tour sounds wonderful, Anala. And then the spa, because _fuck,_ I wouldn’t complain to a soak.”

Evie stared up at the tower in awe, “Holy shit Anala this is so cool.” she jogged up to the door and peeked in, Kore right at her feet. She stepped in after her. 

Anala found their excitement so infectious, adding a bounce to her step as she took them up to the next floor. “Yoshik figured out levitating glyphs in place of stairs recently, it’s been awesome, no idea how he does it so we’ll deal for now.” She laughed and gave a dramatic gesture around to the ‘bathroom’. This part she knew how to do. While the original tower had given them simple stone flooring, some tubs, towels and benches, they’d been working on this for years. Their team’s tower was more like a hot spring than anything else. There was a tall cabinet and towel rack to the immediate right of them with everything they could ever need in here, then a white curtain between them and the main room. One which Anala proudly pulled back to show an impossibly large space for the outside dimensions of the tower, most of which was taken up by what was essentially a hot spring. Smooth borders, little plants in the corners and everything. All clean and fresh and brand new. 

Eleanor followed, a little amazed as they were led through the tower. “Holy _shit,_ Anala. This is absolutely fucking stunning.” She grinned, looking around. “I can see why you prefer this to the tiny hut, damn.”

“If this is what a spa is, I regret never going to one before.” Evie’s eyes were wide as Kore padded along the edge of one of the pools of water. The cat gently stuck a paw into the water, “Ah Kore! Don’t.” Evie scooped her up and cradled her, “Anala you’re amazing. You _made_ this. I just….shit. ” 

Anala mimicked the sugar sweet tone of any tour guide she’d ever met. “Over there you can pick up robes, the fluffiest towels ever, and bath bombs, do you know what a bath bomb is? Because I didn’t until I went to Nicodranas. They’re amazing. Don’t use them in the main pool though.” She crossed to the next set of stairs and waited until they were ready to join her. Kore was _adorable_. “Does Kore swim?” She laughed, watching Evie pick up the cat and cradle her. They were both _Adorable_. Next floor. Anala led them up to the kitchen. A large open pantry had all the food they could need, all fresh and ready to be cooked up. Whiskey, of course as requested. Plenty of space for a table for three too. Tucked in the corner beside the table was a shelf of books and maps, because Anala had to try and outdo herself. “Summoned bakery items aren’t the best of the best, but they’re pretty good, always fresh too. You can find those just there.”

Eleanor was amazed as she looked around, taking it all in. “This is so wonderful,” she breathed. “I definitely need to start using this spell. Getting that adamantine is a good idea, I’ll message Kurdu.” She walked to the table, grabbing a bottle of whiskey and then a piece of wire from her pouch. “ **Kurdu. It’s Eleanor. Can you track down some adamantine for us? It’s for a spell. Let me know how much it’ll be. Thank you.** ” Then she opened the bottle, taking a swig of whiskey. “Beautiful.”

Evie nuzzled Kore fondly, “I’m not sure but from everything I know most cats don’t care much for water. I _could_ turn her into something that does like water. Maybe I’ll do that in a bit.” she had walked over to the books, examining what was there. She immediately had ideas for books that she wanted to make sure Eleanor included when they got around to working on it themselves, “This definitely beats the dirt.” she flashed a smile at Anala. Kore wrestled her way out of Evie’s arms and began sniffing around the room, coming up to Anala and meowing at her for attention. Evie shook her head at the cat. She sighed, “I should probably report back real fast. Let them know how far we’ve gotten. Give me a sec I’ll be right back.” Evie made her way downstairs a moment so she could focus on the sending spell. 

Anala crouched down to greet Kore, reaching out to pet her. “Remember to sound grumpy and vaguely aggressive, dear.” She called after Evie, still grinning down at Kore. “Sooo, does that mean that the tour is over? I could show you the last floor? Roof isn’t bad either.” She offered Eleanor softly, making a cutesy face at Kore. “You wanna come with?” She asked the cat.

Kore chirped happily at Anala, pushing her head against her hand. She began purring immediately after eyes bright and trained on the elf. 

El hummed, shrugging. “I think we ought to wait for Evie. She’ll want to see it too, and I don’t want to take away from that. Both of us being surprised is more fun to watch, anyway.” She summoned Aisling, grinning as her cat meowed and stared up at Anala as well. “This is Aisling. The first thing Evie ever says about her is that she has _so many toes._ ”

Anala stayed right where she was sitting on her heels as the new cat appeared. “Hey~ Evie showed me a picture of her that she drew, she’s even cuter in person!” One of her hands parted from Kore to give Aisling some attention too.

“SO MANY TOES _!”_ Evie called from the stairs as she reentered the room, “I told you. SO many. It’s crazy. And adorable.” Evie’s eyes shifted from the cats to Anala. Who was equally adorable as the two felines vied for her attention. Evie leaned in the doorway with her arms crossed watching, a crooked smile on her face.

Ash purred, a too-large paw coming up to gently hold Anala’s arm in place for pets. “Yeah,” El said, “she’s gorgeous.” She laughed as Evie came back, glancing back to her sister. “That was quick. Everything good?”

Anala perked up as Evie came back, her attention quickly being snatched away by the cats. She was tempted to just sit down here and now on the floor with them, but after one more room. “Do you think they expect me to send daily reports back as well? I don’t remember them mentioning it to me…” That would be just like them though. Requiring something of her and not telling her, letting her find out later when they were acting pissy because she didn’t do it.

Evie shrugged at her sister, then shook her head at Anala, “I think you’ll be okay Anala. This is just something I picked up from Ellyn on the mission I went on with her. It tends to keep them off our backs during the missions and there wasn’t much to report so it only took a second. Half the time they don’t even fucking respond.” she pushed herself off the wall and walked back over, “I just figured I should get it out of the way while I was thinking about it. Sorry for interrupting your grand tour. Shall we continue?” Evie offered an arm to Anala.

  
“Please, I’d love to continue.” El noticed the arm, an eyebrow raised, but kept quiet. She could always tease Evie later. Especially considering how much teasing she’d been the butt of after their birthday. “I figured we could do them every few days, if we don’t want to be too on top of it but not have them up our asses either.” 

That was a relief. Anala smirked to Evie like she was on the verge of teasing her too, but instead enthusiastically wrapped her arm around hers and brought them to the top floor. On the very top floor was a short hall-like strip of floorboards from the entrance to the ladder to the roof. The rest was pillows and blankets and bedding on multiple levels. Spots flat enough for people like Zy to sprawl out, and others small enough for people like Farren to build a nest. There was a closet with all kinds of casual, comfy, sleep clothes and slippers. There were fancy little heat stones to curl up near like a mini (much safer) fire. And importantly, a little shelf of easy to reach snacks, drinks and books.

“Fuck the mission I just want to stay up here.” Evie laughed, looking around the room, “Its going to be really hard getting back on the road after being up here.” Kore had followed and found one of the stones, curling up next to it. 

“Well, the spell does end after twenty-four hours. So that might be an issue.” El looked around the room, grinning. “But I don’t blame you, this looks _divine._ I just want to curl up and sleep for all of tomorrow.” She sighed, walking over to grab some comfier clothes than her travel clothes. “But unless we wanna see the roof, I’m _absolutely_ going to go down to the spa.”

“There were definitely some days we just stayed in the tower and re-cast it the next night. Especially as it is now when we have the whole group cast it, it’s incredible.” She missed it a little. But it was nice to have this piece of it back. It shouldn’t be too long before she had a chance to visit her group again. “I’ll show you the roof when the stars come out, how about it?” For now though, food, spa, relax. “I have a feeling Kore’s not going to be able to let go of this place either.” She laughed at the adorable little cat curling up as she walked over to the closet herself, picking out what she wanted easily enough having made them all. “What do you say to going down to the spa?” She asked Evie as she pulled her messy hair out of the tie for the last time for today, shaking it out and letting it fall in a natural mess all around her face.

Evie was distracted a moment watching Anala, then it registered that the question was directed at her “Absolutely!” she replied, quickly walking over to the closet, inspecting what was in there and reaching in to grab something that looked relatively comfortable, “I definitely think I lost my familiar to this place. Guess we’ll have to test out an aquatic form some other day.”

Ash had wandered off as well, happily kneading a pillow before curling up. So Eleanor just shrugged, taking another swig from the whiskey bottle. “Spa it is. Last one in is a stinky owlbear!” With that, El darted down the ladder, giggling madly.

Anala threw her newly acquired clothes across her shoulder, navigating out the way of Ash and smiling down at her. It was… actually really nice having new people enjoying her home. “Hm? Oh Shit.” Anala laughed and ran, scooping up a pillow along the way and ditching it at Eleanor’s back. It missed. Kind of embarrassingly too, she almost tripped on it on the way over. 

It took Evie a second to realize what was happening, “Hey not fair you’re both closer to the door!” she ran forward, grabbing another pillow and chucking it at her sister, hitting her dead on as Evie skirted past her and towards the door. She ran down the stairs a grin on her face, “Hey Anala!” she misty stepped next to her, “Don’t fall behind.” and with a wink misty stepped again and took off. 

_Well now, if magic was fair game_. She clutched her amulet through her shirt, whispering a few words, and her feet lifted from the ground. She disappeared into mist, then reformed on the wall, slipping through the air at a much faster speed than she could run.

Eleanor scowled, making her way to the gap and spotting the floor of the spa. She cast dimension door, appearing at the bottom of the stairs for the spa floor. “Dicks!” She scowled, looking at the others. “Here I was, planning a good old-fashioned race, and you make it a fucking farce. _Rude._ ” She turned her nose up, grabbing a towel. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to go soak in hot water until I dissolve.”

“You forget who I am my dearest sister.” Evie walked past her sister, swatting her butt with the spade of her tail, “You never set parameters. You’re just mad I outsmarted you.” she laughed looking around kind of unsure where to start.

Anala had ten minutes of her flying spell left. So she sat in mid air as she undid her braces, breathing in the steam and general aroma of the spa. “You didn’t exactly give us warning, love. Had to even the playing field somehow.” She dropped the braces to a bench on the side. Then her boots. Noticing Evie looking a little lost, Anala offered a gentle smile, still hanging in mid air. “Those panels unfold to get changed behind. Robes and towels. That pool is more private if you’re shy, but the big one fills up with bubbles if you’re up for it.” She guided, pointing out things and floating in their general direction if she didn’t concentrate hard enough. Flipping herself back onto her feet, padding over behind one of those panels she mentioned.

“Shy?” Eleanor laughed a little, shaking her head as she started to strip down from her travel clothes. “Bubbles sound great, though.” She grabbed a robe, not bothering to tie it shut as she picked up a towel and the whiskey. “C’mon, unless you wanna go grab another bottle you’re gonna need to be near me to share.” She grinned at Evie, then started towards the big pool in question.

Evie shook her head at her sister as she followed suit ditching her traveling clothes and sliding into the pool with her sister, snatching the bottle and taking a long drink. She looked back over her shoulder at Anala with a wicked grin on her face, “You joining us or not, Stinky Owlbear?” she laughed at her own joke and passed the bottle back to Eleanor. 

Anala hung up her travel clothes over the panel, dragging her nails through her hair and joining them in the pool as it started to fill with bubbles. Hitting the hot water was an immediate relief and for a moment, she just sunk into it. “Stinky Owlbear is not on my list of approved pet names, dear.” She spoke in their general direction, eyes closed. Then she sunk completely under the water. Flying spells in water was a good combination, she didn’t think she could feel _more_ weightless. But there it was. Anala came back up from the water with a gasp and a happy grin, vision completely obscured by a heavy mop of hair in front of her face, which she quickly flicked back out of the way. “What do you think?” She asked up to the twins, knowing full well the answer better be glowingly positive.

Eleanor had been slipping into the water as Anala hopped in, and she let out a soft groan as she settled into the hot water. “Fucking fantastic,” she sighed, letting her eyes close for a moment. Then she looked over, laughing at the hair in front of Anala’s face. “You’re a _vision,_ my dear.” Her tone was flirty, but there wasn’t much bite to it. “I could absolutely get used to traveling like this.”

“Well then I guess I’m going to have to keep trying then.” Evie smirked, quickly sinking under the water, staying a moment and coming back up, greatly enjoying the warmth. She looked over at Anala and snorted a laugh, “An absolute beauty to be envied by all.” she sunk into the water again up to her nose, her eyes betraying the huge smile on her face. 

"I was totally talking about the water but I like this too." She purred, biting her lip through the broad smile. "So how do you think your ass is going to cope on this trip, Eleanor?" She asked up with a bubbly laugh. All day on a horse but all night in a spa and pillow fort wasn't bad. Anala netted her fingers together and stretched her arms out in front of her, watching her shoulder where the edge of her golden tattoo shimmered through the water.

“I was mostly talking about the water, but that hair was too good to resist.” El laughed a little, starting to relax as she soaked. “I think it’ll survive, thankfully. I might bitch once in a while, but mostly just for fun. It’s not that bad being on the horse all day, and if I get to come to this at night… Not bad at all.” She shrugged, flicking the spade of her tail on the surface of the water enough to splash her sister. “So, piercings. I think I would look _fantastic_ with a lip piercing.”

Evie lifted for a breath and reached for the whiskey bottle, “I meant more the mop of mess your hair was but what I said stands regardless. Oh the water is great too. ” she took a drink with a wicked grin still playing on her lips, eyes steadied on Anala until her sister splashed her, “Rude.” she flicked her own tail at her sister sending water across the other tiefling’s face. 

Anala wouldn't get involved in the water fight... for now. But she watched them out of the side of her eye so they couldn't try any unexpected funny business while she brought her hair over her shoulder and continued carding her fingers through it. Anala lit up at the mention of piercings again though. Racking her brain for an image of someone with those sorts of piercings. "Here or here?" She asked Eleanor, gesturing to the side of her top lip, then the side of her bottom lip. "Or in the _middle_?" She moved her finger to the middle of her bottom lip.

El laughed brightly, snagging the bottle from Evie and splashing her again. “I was thinking in the middle,” she said, offering the whiskey to Anala. “I think it’d be _very_ pretty. And… I mean, it’d be a nice way to make Da’leth pissy without having to try. But mostly, it’d look neat, which I very much want for myself.”

Evie pouted a little as her sister took the bottle from her, she sunk down into the water hiding the lower half of her face beneath as she listened to them go back and forth. She closed her eyes letting the steam and heat from the water consume her. Usually her sister’s incessant flirting didn’t bother her but since their birthday at Blockbrau Evie had been noticing it grating against her nerves and had been trying to figure out why. She shook her head and dove under water holding herself in the silence as she tried to shut out the nervous energy that had been trying to take over. When she knew she was at her limit she broke the surface, pushing her hair back between her horns and leaning her back against a wall.

“I like the middle one.” Anala nodded confidently, taking the bottle and drinking from it. “Spite on it’s own is an amazing motivator, love. Maybe not for a body mod though.” It was good that Eleanor was able to find that bit of autonomy for herself though. And of course it wasn’t all spite. “I was thinking I should get my ears done before anything else? Sort of like, a baseline. Walk before you run. That and I’ve got a lot of ear to pierce.” She ran her fingers along her pointed ears, trying to decide where exactly she’d want it. Anala watched Evie return to the surface of the water, taking another drink and offering the bottle out to her with a smile.

Evie smiled back at Anala as she took the bottle and took a drink, “I agree, middle would look good. And ears are definitely a good place to start. I would recommend doing it before we get too close to Lebenda if it does happen so it has a few days to heal up a little. Going into a fight with a fresh piercing is _not_ fun.” she let out a small laugh. “And I think spite is a _fantastic_ motivator for most things in life when you can find something else to keep you going.” 

“Then let’s do just one in the middle. I’ll be cute as _fuck._ And I think a few piercings along your ears would look _fabulous,_ Anala. My interest in piercings is mostly for me, and the spite is more of a bonus than anything.” Eleanor sank beneath the water again, enjoying the bubbles for a moment before resurfacing. “Plus, after a drink or two, you’ll hardly feel a thing. Speaking of...” She reached over, snagging the bottle from her sister and taking another drink before handing it back to Evie.

“A fight and a swamp, might not be great.” On the way back could be an option too, assuming they didn’t just ditch the horses and teleport back to campus. “I’ll have to buy some earrings when we get back.” She breathed out, looking forward to wandering the court of colours again. Definitely wouldn’t bring Zy along, not after last time. 

“”That’s _definitely_ doable.” Evie took a drink and offered the bottle to Anala, “You could do two, one here,” she reached out and pinched lightly closer to the point, “And then one here.” she moved her hand closer to the lobe, “and then get a piece that has a chain that connects them. It’s not great for fights but it’s a look. A good one.” 

El smiled to herself as Evie moved closer to Anala, definitely amused. “I think that’d be pretty. Or do three in a row, and have one of those threaded earrings that goes through all three. I always think that looks so elegant.” She shifted a little, humming. “I still think you’d look cute with a nose piercing, Anala. Like, a nostril.”

Anala's eyes never left Evie. Taking the bottle but not drinking from it just yet. "Chains, huh?" She arched an eyebrow. But she liked that idea. She could have one that drew in closer to the line of her ear if she thought she might be getting into a fight. "That's a lot of piercings at one time, elf ears can be sensitive, you know." Her lips turned upwards into an odd but amused and happy smile, eyes crinkling at the edges. 

Evie flushed a bit, looking away a moment and rubbing the back of her neck, trying to regain her slowly crumbling composure, “I-I just think it’s a look you could pull off. Ultimately, your choice.” She tilted her head back to Anala, “You’d look great no matter what you did.” she met the elf’s eyes with her own and smirked, “I’d dare anyone to disagree.” 

Eleanor laughed softly to herself, shaking her head. It looked like Evie was _finally_ trying, which meant she could maybe tone it down. At least she knew now that making her twin a little jealous would work. “I mean, we do have healing potions, if that’s your worry.”

Anala laughed softly, airy, like she was trying to be quiet and keep everything between them. "I like it." She assured, voice gentle and sweet but eyes shining with another thing entirely. "It's a good idea." It was a point of far too much pride that she got Evie to blush, even if that could be pinned on a lot of things right now. "You'd dare? Does that mean you'd threaten someone for disagreeing? You'd fight someone in defence of me looking hot in anything at all?" She was having a little too much fun teasing Evie, but she looked so cute with that blush.

Evie's smirk widened, leaning into the confidence she had at the moment, "I would. If you'd allow it. I know you're more than capable of kicking someone's ass if you wanted to. But I’d fight for it." she took the bottle from Anala and took a drink, not breaking eye contact. After a good swig she handed it back to her, “I’d win too.”

El continued to sink in the water, but after a moment had an idea--and started to move a little closer to the pair. “I might have to fight you, just to see how fiercely you’re willing to defend Anala’s hotness. Not that I disagree, but just to be a problem.” She grinned, snatching the bottle from Anala’s hand. As she took a swig of her own, she poked Evie in the back with the point of her tail, trying to spur her sister closer to Anala. “Sorry, have it back.” With an easy smile, she handed the bottle off to Anala again.

"Hm, I'm sure you would. We could kick their ass together? Wouldn't that be a time." They'd likely get to a fight soon enough, but she wasn't sure if she was going to like what was coming on the Assembly's terms. A fight on their terms together though, now that could be fun. Anala's eyes left Evie for the first time as Eleanor took the bottle from her, she'd kind of forgotten she'd been the one holding it. Anala returned her smile when it was given back, remembering to drink this time before either of the other two wanted it back. Whiskey wasn't her usual drink but she had a feeling she could definitely warm up to it.

“We absolutely could.” Evie let out a laugh, swatting her sisters tail away and using her own to splash water in her direction, “You’re such a shithead El. I love you so much. I’d fight you anytime for any reason but you know that. Besides, we’re supposed to be relaxing here right? Hate to ruin all of Anala’s beautiful work over our dumbassery. We don’t exactly fight subtly.” She flashed a small smile at Anala and then sunk down into the water to her neck. 

“It’s a requirement. You give me so much shit for all kinds of things, it’s only fair that I do it right back to you.” El sank into the water as well, letting herself submerge for a moment. It was nice, feeling so free--she knew it wouldn’t last, but just for now, she was enjoying herself. But then she had to come up for air, the sensation of short hair still strange. “I think I’m starting to wrinkle,” she mumbled, glancing down to her fingertips. “Might be time to get out.”

"No good fight ends up subtle." Anala hummed. She wasn't proposing that they had to make quite as much of a mess as she tended to, but a little bit of a mess always came with a decent fight. Anala caught the smile out of the corner of her eye and her attention flicked across to Evie, returning that smile with a wink. At Eleanor's observation, Anala looked down at her own fingers. "Gotta start on figuring out dinner, huh?" Her mind flicked through the choices, they'd figure it out after she showed off the options. With a sigh for leaving the warm water, she took her hair in her hands to wring it out as she turned and stepped up out of the pool. The tattoo curving over and down on the outside of her upper thigh more obvious while she did. It was similar to the style Zylric drew for himself, but the lines were more elegant. A pattern stylistically complimenting and bordering a four pointed star in dark ink.

“Yes. Food. We should sleep at some point too since we’ve got another long travel day tomorrow.” Evie eyes trailed across the intricate lines as she watched Anala exit the pool, “Nine hells, Anala that tattoo is stunning.” she stepped out herself, grabbing a robe and wrapping it snugly around herself, “Does the star have any significance?” 

El watched as Anala climbed out, eyes focused on the tattoo. “That’s _stunning._ ” She was a little loathe to leave the warmth, but she still pulled herself out of the water and grabbed her towel and robe. “I’m going to be completely honest, I have never cooked in my life. I really hope you weren’t counting on my help tonight.”

Anala thought they were complimenting something else for a second but that was quite alright too. "I'll be sure to pass your compliments onto Zy." She grinned back at the two of them and went to dry off and pull on the comfortable clothes she'd brought down. As well as the necklace focus. "It's a more 'me' version of the star in Corellon's symbol. Kinda reminds me of home." She hummed happily, wrapping a robe over the top of her loose pants and shirt. Still cozy, even after getting out of the water. "I don't mind." 

Evie shook her head as she felt herself flushing and rushed to hide it by pulling on the clothes she had grabbed from the closet, hoping that neither of the other two caught her eyes lingering a bit longer then Evie had intended on Anala before she dressed. She had no idea what had gotten into her tonight but she hoped it went unnoticed. Especially since she knew Eleanor would never let her hear the end of it if her sister noticed. It was probably just the warmth and the whiskey. She dried her hair and situated it around her horns so it dried properly, “And I love that. Taking something that exists and making it your own? Fantastic.” she affixed her walkie talkie around her neck tucking it beneath her shirt, “I know how to cook in _theory_. I’ve done a few campfire based things just with general survival training, but we haven’t really had a need to cook.” she laughed, “Hells that makes us sound like stuck up rich kids. I’d be willing to try to help if you don’t think I’d just get in the way.” 

El was enjoying herself, overall—the way Evie kept blushing brought so much joy to her. She had pulled the warm robe close around her, humming softly. “It’s gorgeously done. And it complements the shape of your body well, too.” She was toweling her hair dry, humming a little. “I’m the first to admit we’ve spent most of our lives as stuck-up rich kids. I don’t mind learning, though. Probably good for me, honestly.”

Anala shifted her cheek against the fluffy collar of the robe, watching Evie move her hair about her horns. She hadn't thought of that being something tieflings had to do until now. It was really simple, but a weird sort of interesting too that had her watching her. Anala shrugged a shoulder. "I'm a stuck up rich kid too, you're fine. I'll put you to work on something simple." She hadn't learned a thing until she left home. Snapping out of her daze, she led the way back up the stairs as the steam began to magically clear from the space. 

Evie followed close behind Anala ready to be put to work on whatever was needed. Now that the daze of being in the hot spa room was fading she was realizing how hungry she actually was, “So what’s on the menu?”  
  
“I mean, fair enough, we all have that in common. Go team, eh?” Eleanor shifted, getting dressed and pulling on the walkie-talkie. It was comforting to have, she had to admit. It meant she could talk to anyone in the group without worry. Then she tried to get her own hair arranged, but huffed a few times as she struggled with getting it set properly. “Fucking short hair,” she grumbled, scowling for a moment before looking back over to the others. “I don’t mind learning, as long as there’s room for three in the kitchen. Don’t want it to be too crowded.”

"I was thinking... a recipe Yoshik taught me for lamb. You two can cut up vegetables. I'll show you how, short of cutting yourself it's hard to mess that up." Anala collected what she wanted, setting it out on the bench. "Yeah, there's room. You're not getting out of helping that easily, love." She teased. 

“That sounds perfect. Lamb is amazing.” Evie walked over to her sister and arranged her hair for her, “Trust me it’ll dry weird if you don't do this. You’ll get used to it.” once she was done fussing she looked at Anala, “Alright let’s do this!” 


	3. Twilight Talks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ((TW: Some, but possibly not all of the following? Mentions of bleeding, seizering, life threatening injuries, trauma, body horror, necromancy, trauma))

After the spa, dinner, and making sure the horses were given food and water and were safe, they settled into the top floor. Anala made sure everything was well and in working order, and sat to relax for a good half hour. But she had something that she liked to do, and she finally had the chance now that she was away from the Assembly. After staring into space for a little too long, she excused herself with a smile, going up to the roof with one of the blankets. 

The warmth of the interior half carried over to the roof of the tower. But that’s what the blanket was for. She sat herself down, among the small pot-plant garden in the dark, with only the moon and the stars. Wrapped herself up nice and cozy, held her amulet, and cast the incantation for a sending spell home. 

Eleanor made her way up the stairs about twenty minutes later, wrapped up in a warm blanket of her own. She sat down not too far from Anala, waiting quietly as she worked on her incantation. She summoned Ash a moment later, busying her hands with petting her familiar. “You doing alright up here, Anala?”

Anala had spoken quietly with each incantation, sending off different messages to a couple different people. It wasn’t quite like having a conversation with them, but it could be close. For quite some time after she stayed. Hand on her amulet, eyes cast low and just about closed. She could fall asleep here if it wasn’t for the cool breeze that swayed her hair back from her face. “Yeah. I’m doing alright.” She answered quietly with a smile. “Just had some people I wanted to check in with. They’re okay too.”

Eleanor nodded a little, still petting Ash as she held the blanket closed with her other hand. “Friends or family?” It was nice to hear, honestly. El and Evie didn’t really have people to check in with, per se--just each other. Yes, El knew she could check in with Col and Elarel, but… It felt a bit different, somehow. Not quite the same as talking to their parents. Gods, she’d kill for one last chance at that. “But I’m glad to hear they’re well. And that you are, too. I figured… I don’t know what Evie’s getting up to right now, but if you wanted to know more about what’s happening about Vi, I’d be happy to fill you in now that we’ve got time.”

“Both.” She replied quite simply. “Farren, Zy, Yoshik, Ari and Tenen. They’re both.” She let go of the necklace, bundling herself up and hugging her knees in. Her chin rested atop her knees, looking up at Eleanor. “Ok, please do.” 

El smiled, nodding a little. “I hope my friends and I get to that point,” she said softly, tugging the blanket a little tighter around herself. “As far as that goes…” She paused, lips pressing together as she debated. There was so much happening, and little of it pleasant. “More than anything, I want to make sure my sister is happy,” she offered, looking down. “And she’s been so much less stressed as of late. I think you’re a part of it, but more than that… I think the relationship ending was for the best. It’s a bit tense, in its way, but… I think it’s not helped by that being the first relationship either of them has ever been in. And Violet is… Interesting. She doesn’t handle her emotions healthily, as far as I can tell--and I’m certainly guilty of that myself. But I think that as much as they cared for each other, it ultimately wasn’t a healthy relationship.” Her fingers were buried in Ash’s fur, gaze unfocused even as it was directed towards her cat. “Evie cares so much about her people, and will put all that weight on her shoulders. And I love her so much for that, but… With Vi’s issues, the balance was off. Does that make sense?”

Anala listened without trying to interrupt. It was nice to have a bit of insight on a situation she knew nothing about. There was a lapse before she spoke too. “Did it end okay?” Anala didn’t have a ton of experience in long lasting relationships. She’s seen Arius and Tenen’s unfold and that was about it. That was a mess in its own right but… different. She figured it would leave a mark though, leaving something like that. 

“I think so. As well as you could expect.” Eleanor sighed, eyes closing for a moment. “I don’t know specifics, but… I know Evie, and I know she’s happier now than she was a month ago.” She paused, tucking some hair behind an ear. “I think she just wants to… put it behind her, and move on from this.” It felt a little weird, lying to Anala. Telling herself it was just a carefully chosen truth didn’t soothe the guilt, but… Eleanor was prepared to carry that burden. “Like I said, what matters most to me is her being okay. And I’m noticing she’s a lot happier after spending time with you than she ever was after she got back from spending time with Vi. Which is nice to see.”

That made sense… There was another all too long pause. Anala was usually better at coming up with a quick response to conversations than she was now. “It’s good that she’s okay.” Or seemed okay. Good even. “They seemed so happy when I met them.” She wouldn’t have guessed. She knew it could be like that sometimes, but still, she really wouldn’t have guessed.

“It is.” Eleanor nodded a little, lapsing into silence for a moment. The only sound, for a moment, was the rumbling purrs of Ash. “I know. I think it’s easy to seem happy on the outside. And they did care so much about each other. But… I don’t think that’s enough when there are other issues that aren’t getting fixed.” She hummed for a moment, debating. “Evie and I talked about how scared she was to say anything, because Vi would just… Retreat. And that’s not something that works in a relationship, I think. I’m not experienced in them either, but… It’s not healthy in a friendship, so I can’t imagine it’s good when you’re dating.”

“It’s… not, um…” Anala swallowed the tiny lump in her throat. Her eyes had fallen from Eleanor to the side. “This… this conversation doesn’t leave the two of us, right? Not for any reason, to anyone? Under any circumstance?” She felt a little guilty, but the event of their first meeting still rung in her head.

Eleanor looked up, finally, eyebrows lifting. “Of course, Anala. I swear.” She paused, petting Ash before sending her over to sit in Anala’s lap. “I won’t tell a soul.”

Anala let her knees down as Ash came padding over so she would have somewhere to be. Her hand fell to the cat, giving her little scratches by the ears. “I love my friends. I want them to be happy just as you want your sister to. But… with everything that’s happened… sometimes I think, maybe Ari and Tenen aren’t actually going to make it through this…” Which felt weird to say. Really weird. 

Ash purred, starting to knead the blanket with her large paws. “You think so? He seems to be very in love with her, but…” El trailed off, trying to find words. “I don’t know Ari, but if I saw someone I love go through what Tenen seems to be, I can see how hard that would be.” She made a little face--it was probably what Evie had been watching her do for months. “But I mean. I think that’s part of life. Do you think they’ll be okay? Like, individually.”

Anala needed the break in between where Eleanor talked for her. But she had more story to share when she was done. “It is hard for both of them. I hope they’ll be okay, they’re my people, I’m going to make sure they’re okay.” A breath in. “When we found him. Tenen, on the floor of his study, when the rest of us had just been asleep or about to go to sleep. And… And he looked awful, there was so much… I don’t - My job that night, my only job, was to stop Ari from crying long enough to heal him. That was all I could do. Tenen doesn’t remember that but we do. Arius does… And that was just the start of it? We know that it’s gotten worse now. Keeping them away from each other can only do so much to stop something like that happening again, I- I don’t know. I hope it will be okay. But I don’t know.”

Eleanor waited patiently as Anala told her the story. That… That was worse than she’d ever expected, honestly. It explained the wound that he was still working on recovering from, the protectiveness of his friends, everything. “I’m so sorry,” she murmured, looking up at the sky for a moment. That must have been what happened at Blightshore; that might explain the beach she’d seen in his mind. But she let that sit for the moment, wanting to keep at least _one_ promise she’d made to Tenen. “I can’t imagine how awful that was. I’ve never…” Her voice was soft, uncertain. “I remember sitting with Evie while she healed after we got back across the border. It was terrifying. All we’ve had is each other for so long, and… I was so scared. I still am. I’m scared something will happen, or she’ll be sent on a mission without me, and… That she won’t be so lucky next time.”

**  
((TW: Some, but possibly not all of the following? Mentions of bleeding, seizering, life threatening injuries, trauma, body horror, necromancy, trauma)) **

She nodded. Numb. “I know that… sending him back here wasn’t the right call. Not on his own, at least. It made things worse for him. We’re his support system and we left.” It was a guilt that would not leave. Probably shouldn’t leave either. It had been her call. “Maybe, maybe we wouldn’t have reacted so bad if… If he had been still. If he hadn’t cracked his head open on the side of his desk when he fell. Or if the spell hadn’t been active and… _moving_ under his skin. Gods, if Ari had been able to stop screaming. I’ve seen undead. Hells, I’ve seen flesh golems and those are worse than any undead. But I’d never seen anything like my _friend_ , writhing on the ground, clawing his way over to Yosh because he dared to pick up his spell book to try and figure out what the fuck he’d done to himself.” Anala was crying. She was pretty sure. Her face felt wet but she hadn’t registered it until she stopped talking…

Eleanor moved closer, reaching out a hand to gently place it on Anala’s knee. “You were trying to do what you thought was best for him. It’s complicated, and… He needed to heal. he still does. Traveling isn’t easy for that.” She squeezed gently, concern for her new friend on her face. “And… You couldn’t have known how much him being separate would affect him.” The guilt was rising, and El looked down, tempted to pull her hand back. “And you couldn’t have expected someone to cause even more problems and stress for him like I have been. Which… I don’t know that I can try to apologize for that, because my guilt won’t fix what’s happened.”

She could have known. He was her friend. Anala didn’t know what Eleanor had done to make things so much worse, but she couldn’t ask. Not right now. Instead she tried to hear the words for herself. How could she apologize for what she’d decided to do? She didn’t even think Tenen really blamed her, it might be easier if he did. “Just… have to do better from here on out. Do right by him. See that he does get better.” She spoke under her breath.

El nodded, squeezing Anala’s knee again. “We’ll both focus on that.” She couldn’t manage to fake a smile, unfortunately. “I want to do right by him. I… I really haven’t been doing that, even though I promised I would. I keep trying to do what I think will help him, but… he just gets angrier.” She paused, gritting her teeth. “I’m scared that I’m going to do the same to Evie. Upset her, hurt her, make her hate me. But I want to keep her safe, too. She’s done so much for me, and I feel like I owe her so much more than I’ve given her the last few months.”

Anala sighed, looking down at the cat curled in her lap. “Evie’s your sister. That’s a bond stronger than a friend you’ve known for a couple months.” Then, there were all the other things piled onto Tenen that made things difficult for both of them. She tipped her head back, looking up at the night sky. “I rarely get to go to the roof on our tower. It’s nice up here.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m not scared. She’s my sister, but she’s also her own person. People are interesting like that.” Eleanor mirrored Anala, looking up at the stars. “I’ve never really seen a night sky like this,” she murmured. “Even when we were on our mission, I wasn’t paying attention to the world around us. And… I’m a little sad I wasn’t. This is stunning.” She looked over to Anala, smiling a little. “Is--is it okay if I hug you?”

“I just mean that it’s easier to repair a fault in that relationship…” She murmured. Family were stronger than friends of two months and all. Didn’t mean it wasn’t stressful, didn’t mean it wasn’t difficult. It was just a little bit of hope. “Yeah, please.” She rubbed her eyes and opened up one side of her blanket wrap for Eleanor to shuffle in with her.

El shifted closer, wrapping her blanket around Anala as she came under the other. Then she leaned closer, arms going around Anala for a firm hug. “I know. But it’s still something I’m scared about. All the time.” She sighed, leaning in. “This sounds super fucking stupid, but Tenen is the first person I hugged that wasn’t related to me.” She laughed a little, rubbing Anala’s back. “And now he can’t stand me. All in a span of a few months. If nothing else, it shows how _impressively_ stupid I can be.”

Anala did a little bit of shifting to make sure they’d both be well and warm, then tucked her chin over her shoulder. “I dunno, I was a pretty sheltered kid too.” She mumbled. There were a lot of ways to address that… few of them kind. “Tenen can be complicated.” That was all she had for her. 

El let her eyes close, sighing softly. “I guess we really do have that in common.” She enjoyed the warmth and comfort for a long moment, nodding slightly. “Yeah, that’s an understatement. But like I said, I definitely didn’t help my case. It’ll be fine, or it won’t, but that’s my mess to clean up. Even if I’m frustrated with how he’s treating me, it’s not like I don’t deserve it. And I know he’s hurting, so… It’s just a mess.” She laughed a little, a half-hearted chuckle. “Sorry we ended up on this topic. We were talking about other shit, things a little more immediate.”

It wasn’t just that… but she’d left it up to Evie to tell her when she thought her sister needed to hear it. If she ever did. Or if she was ever ready to. Anala stayed quiet. Then started to pull back from the hug, keeping a hand on her arm and giving it a light squeeze. “Not your fault the conversation turned.” She’d known what she was doing when she brought up Tenen and Ari after certain little words started to remind her of them. Eleanor seemed to have more than enough on her plate already too.

Eleanor let go when Anala pulled back, smiling a little. “It’s fine. Just… I want to see Evie happy, more than anything else in my life. So seeing how happy she’s been lately… I’ll do whatever I can to encourage that.” She brushed her hair behind her ears, then looked up at the sky again. “This is absolutely beautiful.” Then she glanced back to Anala, smirking. “You ought to show this to Evie sometime.”

Anala glanced up briefly at the sky. “Sometime, for sure. Not tonight though.” Securing her blanket around her, Anala got to her feet and turned to Eleanor to offer a hand.


	4. A Moment Alone & the Audacity of Ceilings

Evie had wandered around the tower a bit before spending some time looking over the maps and books that had been provided. She measured out mileage they had left and did her best to ascertain when they should leave the road, when the terrain would most likely start making traveling more difficult, and what best way to get into the swamp so as to not alert their targets. She was easily lost in the familiar feeling of planning and it wasn't until she became painfully aware of the still quiet and extended absence of her two companions that she lost focus on the books and maps. Tucking a knee to her chest she let out a sigh. It had definitely been an interesting trip so far, very different from what she had expected when they were initially given the details and summons. She was grateful for how things turned out, for Anala, but she was still worried because missions with her and her sister never seemed to go well. She shook her head trying to banish the intrusive thoughts that were trying to pervade her mind. 

Gathering up the things she had pulled from the shelf she put them away and made her way up to the sleeping quarters, wondering again where the other two had gone off to. Her stomach felt like it was tied in knots trying to think of where they could be. It occurred to her that maybe Eleanor had made a move and they had snuck off somewhere to….she stopped that train of thought, shaking her head. She was being stupid and she knew it. Why would that be any of her business anyways? Sinking into some of the pillows she wrapped a blanket around her and fell back, staring at the ceiling. Emotions were so stupid...and unnecessarily complicated, and she didn't understand most of what she was feeling. Everything that happened in the spa...her face began to redden again as flashes of images from their time there came back to her. She hoped she hadn't made a complete fool out of herself, maybe she should talk to Eleanor about it. Maybe her sister could help her work out these feelings she was having. El had way more experience in things like this then Evie ever did. 

Kore padded over, picking up Evie's slight distress, and hopped up on her chest, turning around a few times before beginning to make biscuits. Evie just continued staring at the ceiling. Lost in her own thoughts and feelings and hating that she didn't know the first thing about sorting any of it. Her mind continued to repeat the exchanges that had happened in the pool. The rise and fall of Evie's paper-thin confidence, her sister's constant challenge for attention, which Evie was unsure if it was based on Eleanor being genuinely interested in their companion or if she had some other game she was playing. And then there was Anala... just being Anala and her insanely natural, charismatic way which for some reason caused half the tiefling's brain to shut down sometimes. Evie groaned, pulling the blanket over her face. Kore let out a disgruntled meow and hopped off, finding a plush pillow to curl up on instead.

Evie sighed uncovering her face and glowering at the ceiling again, as if it was at fault for the mix of emotions coursing through her. She grabbed and chucked a pillow up at it for the _audacity_ of its actions. It responded by doing absolutely nothing and allowing the pillow fall as soon as it hit it. It landed full force onto Evie's face, she couldn't help but start laughing. For this moment she was glad she was alone and no one saw that happen.

After a short moment the laughter died out and another sigh escaped her. Her mind wandering again to when Anala and El would be getting back. It was a bit lonely in here by herself, as nice and comfortable as it was. And it was so _quiet,_ it was almost oppressive. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath and began to sing the familiar lullaby that her mother had taught them as children. It was a strange song because the lyrics were in Infernal, which was not a musical language, but they way their mother had written it...she had taken their father's native language and turned it into something unique and beautiful. _'Just like my beautiful girls'_ her mother's voice rang in her head. A memory of one of the things their mother had said to them to help them love themselves and their Tiefling heritage, despite the teasing they had gotten from other kids in the past. Evie brought a hand to her face, realizing she had started crying a little. She missed them. So much. There were so many things she wished she could talk to them about. To get help navigate the parts of life that were hard to figure out. Get their advice and counsel, to make sure she was doing things the right way instead of constantly guessing. Closing her eyes again she wiped the rest of the tears away and continued the song. Trying to find the strength and comfort her mother had wished for them through it.

Anala came down the ladder, hearing the soft singing and slowing. So, very careful not to interrupt, she came into the room, setting the blanket down to the side. She didn’t understand the language, it was a strange song, but beautiful in its own way. To be sure it wasn’t interrupted, she put her finger to her lips, turned to Eleanor to give her that small warning in case she didn’t hear Evie first. Then she settled into the pillows and blankets near Evie. Not quite laying down yet, but just listening. It was nice. Watching her though, Evie almost seemed sad. A bittersweet type of peaceful that she couldn’t quite put a pin on. When the song came to a close, she spoke, still watching her with a small smile. “You have a really nice voice.” Anala was aware that it was probably weird to have been watching and listening without her knowing, but she was going ahead and living with that one.

Evie started, sitting straight up at the sudden voice, “Ah! Shit! You guys are back.” she laughed, her face flushing a little, “T-thanks. It’s a song our mother taught us. Infernal. Got a little too into my own thoughts and it was so quiet.” she rubbed the back of her neck then grabbed her blanket pulling it around herself again, “You two were gone for awhile.” 

Eleanor hummed softly as she heard the song, taking a moment to make Ash appear back inside. Then she walked around a little, trying to find a comfortable spot for sleep, but ultimately walked back towards the other two. “We were stargazing,” she said, smiling as she sat down on the other side of Evie. “And then got caught up in some chat. I guess we lost track of time.”

Anala’s attention kept on Evie with a warm smile for a while, the memory of the song playing through her head lingering along with it. She hummed with Eleanor’s recount. “Wanted a spot to cast sending a few times to get in touch with my group too. Hope you weren’t too bored down here without us?” 

Evie tucked her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and resting her head on them, looking to Anala, “Just a little lonely. I was actually a bit productive. Those maps were useful, I figured out a few things to help us the next few days.”

El smiled a little, wrapping her arms around her sister. “Sorry you were lonely, but good job on looking at the maps. It’d probably do us well to plan a little better, get a look at where we’re going and what we’re doing.”

Anala leaned back on her palms away from the two, shuffling a couple blankets around her to give her the best amount of padding between her and the heat stone near her. “Anything you want to chat about now? Or should we leave it for the morning when we’ve all gotten some rest?” Anala probably needed some rest. But she’d stay up for a little longer if Evie had something she wanted them to know.

Evie hummed a moment, thinking, then shook her head, “Let's leave the reality of the mission for tomorrow. I’m content and cozy right now and I don’t want to ruin that.” she stretched and let herself flop back forcing both her and Eleanor into the little nest of pillows she had made herself, “Unless there was anything either of you wanted to talk about?”  
  
“I like the idea of waiting,” El started, a yelp escaping as she was pulled down into the bundle of blankets and pillows. “Hey, you dick!” She was laughing, though, squeezing Evie closer. “I think anything serious can wait ‘til morning. I’m out of energy for that kind of talk, and I’m tired of thinking about this fucking mission for today.”

Anala grinned at the two of them and their antics. It would be a good couple of days. “Until the morning!” She declared, as a final vote. Hugging a pillow to her chest and flopping back into a pile of soft blankets. Anala was automatically buried. Her voice muffled but content when she called out to the twins. “Goodnight.” She practically sing-songed.

"Tomorrow" Eleanor agreed. After a moment she rolled over her sister, grabbing Anala's arm and tugging her close, "I believe I was promised a cuddle pile." 

Evie shook her head at her sister, cuddling up to her and smiling. This was nice. She was going to look forward to this for however long it lasted.

Anala laughed as she was pulled in, happy to cuddle up to the two of them. She snatched a blanket from somewhere behind her and threw it over the three of them. “This is a good cuddle pile.” She mumbled, eyes closed, patting someone’s arm(?) maybe, as a quiet goodnight.


	5. Cuddles & Coffee

Eleanor was the first to wake, stretching a little as she managed to sit up. She looked at Evie and Anala with a fond smile and a yawn before realizing they were still sleeping. With a bit of a shrug and a determination not to wake them, El got up and headed to the kitchen. She couldn’t cook for shit, but at least she could have coffee ready.

After about five minutes of hunting and swearing, the coffee was waiting to boil, and El was watching it from a perch on the counter. Her tail swayed lazily as she thought on what her and Anala had talked about on the roof, and her own lies about what had happened. She still wanted to tell Evie the truth, but… Not yet. Not so soon. All it would do is make Evie sad for a relationship that had essentially been erased from existence, and the person Vi had become but no longer was. No need to make her sister’s life worse.

Eventually, the coffee was ready, and El walked back up to the others. “Good morning, sleepyheads!” With a dramatic flourish, she ripped the blanket off of them, grinning. “I made coffee, if you want some. It’s downstairs.”

Evie groaned pulling one of the many pillows around them over her head and curling up against her remaining sleeping companion, “Fuck off Eleanor.” her voice was muffled by the pillow. She didn’t want to get up yet. It was warm and comfy.

At Eleanor’s greeting, Anala slowly started to blink awake. But Evie intervened and she closed her eyes again instead, wrapping her arm tighter around her. She was very cozy right now and not even the yelling would cut through that mood. “Good morning to you too, gorgeous.” She said with a soft, quiet chuckle.

“I will not fuck off,” Eleanor replied, rolling her eyes as Anala snuggled closer to Evie. “C’mon, we can’t stay here all day. You said so yourself. But if you’re _very_ nice to me in the next thirty seconds, I can bring coffee up here instead.”

Evie let out another small groan, her sister was right, but she didn’t like it. She was also very awake now and aware of Anala’s arm around her, she did like that. But they _did_ need to get on the road and stay on track otherwise it would just mean problems. She uncovered her head and looked at Anala, whispering quietly so her sister couldn’t hear, “We should probably get up. She gets real grouchy if we resist too long.” 

“How nice is very nice?” Anala whispered back to her. She was determined to stay there for another couple of seconds. About five seconds. She counted out a couple but got lazy. Then she gave Evie a squeeze and pulled her arms back to herself, sitting up to look at Eleanor with a wide grin. “Eleanor, my wonderful, beautiful, so very sweet, best friend, Eleanor.” She laughed at her own words, holding a hand out like she was serenading her. Or asking for her coffee. “Would you be so kind as to bring us our coffee so you can come sit back down in the warm blanket nest for a couple more minutes until we’re ready to be conscious this morning?”

“Asking nicely usually helps,” Eleanor replied, grinning as Anala dramatically showered her in praise. “I think I could manage that for such sweetness. Especially if Evie apologizes for telling me to fuck off.” She was already headed down the stairs, though, calling over her shoulder. “But I also need a warm blanket, mine’s cold by now.”

Evie sat up a moment, reaching for a blanket and pulling it around herself, giving her sister a dead stare, “Get the coffee and I’ll have a warm blanket ready for you.” she flopped back down, opening up one side of the blanket cocoon she was in, offering to Anala.

Anala tucked her hair back behind her ears and rubbed at her eyes. As Eleanor headed back down stairs, she shuffled down into the blanket cocoon, wrapping her arms around Evie again like she’d never left. “You know she’s gonna be back in a couple of seconds, yeah?” They didn’t have a ton of time to get really settled in. Which was an argument that failed to stop her from settling in again. Sure enough. Anala lifted her head to try and meet Eleanor’s eyes and give her a sleepy smile. “Come ‘ere.” She only shuffled up partly, waving Eleanor over next to her, dragging a couple of pillows and blankets to wedge behind them and sit up against. “Do you want to move? Or stay there for a little longer?” She asked quietly down to Evie, brushing her hair out of her face.

Eleanor had the tray of mugs, coffee, cream, and sugar as she came back up the stairs. It made her grin when she saw Evie and Anala cuddled close again, but she was too awake to let herself sleep in. “I’m coming, I’m coming.” She carefully joined the others, clearing enough of a space to set down the tray and start making herself a cup of coffee. “I just want to get started on riding before it gets too late. I don’t want to spend a week making a four-day journey, y’know?” She leaned in, enjoying the warmth of the blanket nest. “Unless you two have better ideas, I mean.”

Evie grumbled a little more before sitting up, hair a mess but a smile on her face, “Thanks sis.” she reached over to the tray and made herself a cup of coffee. “No you’re right we should get on the road soon. We won’t get to it today but I did find a few spots that would be good for going off road and getting a good angle at the swamp.” She sipped her coffee, enjoying the warmth greatly, “I also think tonight I’m going to take an hour and turn Kore into a hawk for the rest of the trip. Use her for scouting. If I’m riding second to you still Anala I can track ahead while we ride as long as you make sure I don’t fall off.” 

Anala wrapped her hands around her coffee, curling around it a little, knees tucking in. “That’ll be good, having Kore scout, even if she won’t be so fluffy anymore.” She glanced around for the cat in question, reaching out an arm to give her a quick scratch. “I had a thought… Sort of along the lines of planning our schedule. I can teleport us back to the Academy using their circle. So if you know a way to sneak horses out of campus and to where they’re supposed to be. Like a polymorph or something? We’d have a couple days to fuck around doing whatever we want before the Assembly expects us to be back.”

“I still need to hear nice things from you, Evie,” Eleanor teased gently. “But a good angle to shave time off the journey sounds like a good plan. And… I mean, if you’re sure that the Academy won’t notice us coming back, we could do it. I do know polymorph.” She grinned, tail thumping softly against the blanket behind her. “I like the idea of a few days to fuck around. It’s nice not having Da’leth breathing down my fucking neck, even if a mission is… Not my favorite.``

Evie hummed into her coffee “Your hair looks cute. Does that work?” she grinned at her sister, “And I know polymorph too and can have it ready. We could _technically_ store the horses at the Estate. No one would know and you know...that whole wing is blasted open. I wouldn't mind a few days to just….do whatever.” That seemed like a really nice idea, especially with these two.

“We polymorph the horses, we port back to campus, sneak them into your lovely estate. Then do whatever we want in the city for a couple of days? Before getting them back to the stables and reporting in.” She summarised with a grin. They wouldn’t even have to stay in the city once they got back, they wouldn’t be looking for them to be near. As long as they stayed subtle about it.

“That compliment works. But the idea of hanging out sounds absolutely wonderful. Just… A tiny bit of a break.” Eleanor sighed softly. “And I mean… Yeah, we could do that. Maybe we could get that trip to the beach Evie and I have been talking about…” It was kind of ridiculous to hope for that, but she could pretend for a moment. “Or even just get some good fucking sleep, honestly.”

“Oh yeah! I hadn’t talked to you guys about that yet. We haven’t had time for a meeting, which we _need_ to do when we get back. I had planned on talking to you guys about it then.” she looked to Anala, “That offer we talked about at the estate still stand?”

Anala’s eyebrows raised at Eleanor, then to Evie, thinking the same thing she was. “Of course! After how happy you were when I pitched it, it would be cruel taking it away.” She tipped her head in a gesture to Eleanor. “I’ll let you tell her?”

Evie nodded, turning to her sister, “Anala offered a trip for six? of us somewhere. I was thinking we’d use it to go to a beach or something. Because you all are always talking about it. We’d just have to figure out who’d go cuz there’s more than six of us. But I definitely think we should wait till then for a beach trip.”

  
El lit up, biting her lip for a moment to try and hide her excitement even as the muffled thump of her tail betrayed her. “I would absolutely _love_ to do that. I just… Mum and papa wanted to take us to Nicodranas, and I still want to go there _so badly._ Between what I’ve read, what they told us, and what Col’s said… It sounds _wonderful._ ”

Anala’s ears picked up the tail thump and knew _exactly_ what it was without even looking. Fucking adorable. “Maybe seven, depending on which of my team goes with you and for how long you think you can get away with.”

Evie looked down at her coffee a moment, her smile faltering at the mention of their parents and Nicodranas, she still hadn’t had a chance to talk to El about all that yet. She nodded, pushing the thoughts away, “We can definitely figure it out with everyone. Don’t want to make any decisions without them, that wouldn’t be fair. And we can figure out something to get us all away, we’re a clever bunch.” she smiled softly at Anala, wondering if what she said meant she might not be coming. 

“I like that idea, though.” El smiled, sipping her coffee again. “Would you not be joining us, Anala? You say it like you might stay behind.”

It would be a fun project, one she definitely wanted to be there for. _But_ , she’d travelled a lot, and had been to Nicodranas already, and would go again in the future once they were all free. Their team hadn’t been anywhere yet. “I don’t know teleport, I can’t get you to Nicodranas. I can get you back with the circle in Rexxentrum, but that’s about all. You’ll need Yoshik or Ari to go with you too. Me as well if you need a quick return before the person who got you there has had time to rest.” But that meant the numbers from their group would be limited.

Evie nodded, “We can figure it out.” She smiled finishing off her coffee, her head was full enough right now as the time to get on the road was coming closer, “We should probably eat something and then get on the road. We don’t want to lose too much daylight travel time.” She was feeling a little too much about a lot of things in the moment, it was easier to just focus on what needed to be done for now.

“Yeah, we can definitely figure something out. But I mean, makes sense for you not to come, unfortunately. We’ll see what happens.” El was loath to get up again, already nice and warm, but she sighed and nodded. “Let’s grab some food and hit the road. I figure we should try to get as far as we can, make things a little easier.”

Anala set her coffee cup to the side, not needing to worry about taking it back to the kitchen, this place would be gone in 24 hours. “It’s totally fine, you’re not in any way obliged to count me in. It’s my gift to you.” She looked pointedly to Evie with a smile, in case she’d forgotten. “For another time, when we’re not in the middle of a training mission for the most powerful mages in the country.” Good plan though. Anala got to her feet, holding her hands out for anyone that wanted a hand getting up. “Remember to change out of any and all clothes you picked up here by the way.” She left it at that.

“Yeah I had already thought about that. Don’t feel like freezing my ass off if clothes suddenly disappear.” Evie looked over to Kore and after giving her some pets and a kiss on top of her head dismissed her. She grabbed done of Anala's hand to help get herself to her feet, stretched, then walked over to where she had stored her things and proceeded to start getting changed for the day.  
  
“Right, I remember. Let’s not have that happen.” Eleanor laughed, grabbing her pack and changing into fresh riding clothes. “I’m really not looking forward to this, if I’m being honest. But here we fucking go, I guess.” She drained the last of her coffee, staring longingly at the mug. “It’s so damn cold out there. Do you think swamps freeze over like lakes do?”

“I ‘pose they would? Body of water all the same, but we’ll find out. My gear is down stairs, meet you outside?” Anala parted to gather her clothes from the spa room, changing back into what she’d worn the day before, it feeling freshly cleaned thanks to the magic imbued in the space. Only issue was the bracers which weren’t always the most comfortable, but they were good to have on her. Especially when she had literally nothing else. Then she was gathering a pack of food and water for the day, and heading out to the horses.

Evie had finished getting dressed and had started talking about something she had read once, “It’s called brumation. They let themselves freeze in the water with their nose poking out of the ice and just stay like that until spring comes around. It’s an act of survival. But swamps _definitely_ can freeze over. Though while it _is_ getting cold, we are heading south from Rexxentrum so it might not be cold enough for everything to freeze, maybe a little slushy?”

“I mean makes sense, yeah. And yes, meet you outside.” Eleanor looked over at Evie, grinning. “You feeling alright, darling? You were in bed an awful long time this morning.”

Evie shouldered her bag and looked at her sister, “Hmm? Yeah just didn’t want to get up. You know how I am in the morning.” she did her best to shrug it off.

“Didn’t want to get up? I’m _so_ sure it was just being tired, nothing else.” El snickered, picking up her bag.  
  
Evie flushed a bit, busying her hands with checking for something in her bag, “I was comfortable. Can you blame me?”

“Comfortable cuddling? I could tell.” El stuck her tongue out. “You looked cute all snuggled up together.”

Evie let out a small laugh, her blush now reaching the tips of her ears “Yes. Comfortable cuddling. I….I guess I didn’t….like you know how I am, I’m a very physical person and I guess I didn’t realize that I’m a bit touch-starved? Cuddling with you is great and all but it's...different?” she looked at her sister, her face still flushed slightly pink, “Does that make sense?” 

“Sure. Touch-starved. I’m sure that’s all it was.” El smirked, poking Evie gently. “That's why you look so happy holding onto her while you’re riding, too?”

Evie picked up a pillow and smacked her sister with it, “Look that was _your_ doing. I’m not complaining by any means but like...I’m not quite understanding your angle in all of this?” 

“She makes you smile,” El said simply, grabbing a pillow and smacking her sister in the face with it. “You’re happier around her. That matters to me.”

Evie took the hit and shook her head, “I mean. I don’t know she’s just…” she ran a hand through her hair, “She’s just a very charismatic person. It’s hard not to be in at least a decent mood around her.”  
  
El snorted. “Uh-huh. Sure. I’m _very_ convinced.” After a pause, she gave her sister the meanest smirk she could muster. “Does that mean I can keep flirting with her, then?”

Evie’s face soured slightly for a moment, looking away she started toward the door, “Do what you want. I’m not the boss of you.” 

“Bullshit.” El moved forward, putting a hand on Evie’s shoulder to stop her. “First of all, you’ve absolutely declared yourself the boss of me for most of our lives, don’t lie to either of us like that. Secondly--you _do_ know I’m doing it to get a rise out of you, right? I’m trying to show you that you like her, you dense fucking walnut.”

Evie paused, her face growing pinker, “I….” she covered her face with a hand, not looking at her sister, “I….then why have you been flirting with her _so much?_ ” she looked at her sister, “And I don't…..I don’t know how I feel about her. It’s been a little...no...a lot...confusing?” 

Eleanor pulled Evie into a tight hug, sighing. “Because I’m trying to make you jealous so you’ll fucking _do_ something. I know you’re down an eye, but good fucking gods, you’re blind.” She pulled back, hands on Evie’s shoulders. “What’s so confusing about it?”

“I…” she rested her chin on her sister’s shoulder, “I don’t know just….I don’t know much about any of this kind of shit. And I mean, she…..fuck I don’t know, even if I did like her, which I’m not admitting or anything, mind you, I just…it’s _Anala._ ”

El hummed softly, squeezing Evie a little. “Gods, you’re clueless. I love you so much.” She stroked her sister’s back gently, thinking. “I know she’s wonderful, but you also _must_ know she’s as much a person as the rest of us. But I think she’s interested, too, and… I dunno. I just like seeing you so happy around her. It’s a different kind of happy than around me or our friends, y’know? And it’s important. You deserve it.” _Especially after Vi,_ she thought, trying not to frown. “You’re also not subtle when you’re drunk, and you were flirting like _mad_ at Blockbrau.”

“Look I was _very_ drunk at Blockbrau.” Evie sighed, “I….you really think she is? She’s flirty with _everyone,_ I’m just not sure…” she gave her sister a squeeze and pulled back, “I don’t know El. I just...we need to get out there.” she rubbed her face with both hands trying to stop the blush that had taken up residence and refused to leave, “Though….could you maybe lay off the flirting with her a bit? Cuz congrats it worked. I was...am a little jealous about it ok?” she crossed her arms over her chest. 

“I mean, so was I, but… Still. You were acting like I was, all smitten and flustered. I know you, Evie.” With a nod, Eleanor smiled again. “I’ll back off. It’s no trouble. Just… Don’t stress it too much, okay? You’ve got this.” She leaned forward and kissed Evie’s cheek. “I’ll head down first so you can get that blush under control.”

Evie covered her face again with a groan and made her way down to the spa to splash some water on her face, “This was your fault.” she called to Eleanor as she made her way down. 

“I know, I know.” El laughed a little, going down the stairs. “But I love you!” And with that, she ate a pastry as fast as she could on her walk down the rest of the stairs. Then she was outside in the too-cold morning air, sighing softly. “Fuck, that’ll wake you up if the coffee didn’t.”

Anala laughed from where she was checking the straps on the saddle. “I know, right? Everything alright up there?” She nodded up to the tower, Evie not having come out yet. But she steadied herself to hop up on the saddle, waiting for a clear from Eleanor before she made that kind of move to get going.

“Yeah, just had to tease Evie a little and check in with her. Nothing too exciting, I promise.” Eleanor grinned, checking on her horse before stepping into the stirrup and hauling herself up. “She should be down shortly, then we can head out. I think I just embarrassed her a little too much for so early in the morning.”

That was good enough for her. Anala hopped and swung her leg up over the horse, settling on the saddle. “Does she usually get flustered so easily when you tease her?” She had to ask. All with good intent. It was cute. “But you’re right on that, it is a _bit_ early. Feels like we were all cozy and warm _before you woke us up_ not two minutes ago.” She grinned to let Eleanor know there were really no hard feelings. They’d had to have gotten up eventually.

“Only about certain things,” El replied lightly, getting as comfy as she could. “And I know it’s cold, but we really do need to be moving. Especially if we’re going to try and sneak back, get ourselves a few days of freedom--why deprive ourselves of that?” She shrugged, sighing. “But another cup of coffee would be _so_ nice right now.”

“You’re right, you’re right.” She had to admit that. “I don’t know about you two, but at some point, I’m going to the actual tower to visit my team. You’re welcome to come along if you like?” She didn’t see why not if they could slip out of the city. 

Evie walked up hearing the tail end of Anala’s comment. She turned to El’s horse and tied on her pack, “Come along where? You two already planning on ditching me?” she turned with a smirk, hoping to mask the slight worry that was trying to creep in for no good reason.  
  
El sighed a little. “We’d never, darling. Anala mentioned going to the tower to visit her team, and maybe us coming along.” She blew a kiss. “You know I’d never leave you behind.”

Anala spurred her horse on to trot around to closer to Eleanor’s horse where Evie was. “It’s much more impressive than what I can make on my own. You’re going to love it.” She reached out a hand to help her up. 

Evie gave her pack a final tug to make sure it was secure then turned taking Anala’s hand and hoisting herself up, “Seriously? That would be amazing!” she smiled, adjusting herself to make sure she wouldn't slip off. She pulled up the hood of her coat to cover her undoubtedly pink ears. Evie hesitated a moment before wrapping her arms around Anala's waist, feeling her sister's words from just a bit ago creeping into her mind. It was to make sure she didn't fall off when Anala undoubtedly spurred the horse to go faster. 

“It sounds absolutely wonderful.” El grinned, looking over to Evie and winking. “See, told you we wouldn’t ditch you.”

Evie sounded surprised. “Yeah! Why not? I had way too much fun showing that four story little tower, the twelve story one is way better.” They’d kept it twelve stories after Tenen went back to the academy, even without him there to cast it. Just didn’t feel right otherwise. Anala assumed they did the same in her absence too. “Yoshik makes way better stairs than I do, too. Don’t even have to worry about climbing all those flights.”

“That would be great to see. And to meet the others. So far I’ve only met you and Farren. I missed Zy apparently.” she flashed a smile at her sister, “So I’d definitely be up for it. And if anything it’ll be motivation to get this mission finished up.”  
  
“You did miss Zy. He’s lovely, we stole a dog.” El smiled right back, eyebrows raising. “I’m curious about meeting everyone else, so I agree. Let’s get going so we can be fucking _done._ The sooner, the better, in my opinion.” Nudging her horse, she started off, looking back at the others. “Come along, ladies!”

“Yeah… about that _dog_.” Anala couldn’t help but laugh. They’d meet for sure, and the twins were going to love her group and her group was going to love them. “Last I checked in about her, Farren was pretty sure she was a wolf pup.” Gods knew that hadn’t convinced Zy to let her go. Anala steered her horse away from the tower, following Eleanor back onto their path.

Evie laughed with a shake of her head as the horses picked up speed, beginning their trek for the day.


	6. The Bear, the Devil, and the Word

They had been riding a steady pace for a few hours, filing the time with idle chit chat. The roads had been pretty clear, only passing a small handful travelers heading up towards the Amber Crossroads. Evie watched them as they passed, trying to find any signs they might have been anywhere near the swamp but for the most part they were all dully, unassuming and not in the way that someone who was trying to be covert would want to look. She shifted a little, casting her eyes to the sky to figure out around what time it was. The sun was reaching its peak. She held her hand up to shield her eyes as she scanned the sky, a hawk circled lazily above them, every now and then diving down and then back up, most likely catching invisible wind currents. Evie tilted her head, brow furrowing, she wasn’t entirely sure but she didn’t think this was the first time today she’d seen that hawk.

“We should probably consider taking a rest soon; it's nearing noontime.” she suggested, her eyes dropping from the hawk to her companions.

“I wouldn’t mind a break,” El agreed, shifting in her saddle. “I want to stretch my legs a bit, maybe get a little food in my belly. Feed the horses, too. They could use the break.” She looked around, spotting a small clearing. “Here, how about we stop over there? We can clear some snow and get a quick break in. I can cast Tiny Hut if we wanna be warm.”

Anala didn't manage to take notice of the hawk, just kept her horse travelling around the right way through the rougher paths. It didn't take any effort but it did take at least a fraction of focus for the majority of the time. When the idea of a break got pitched she didn't mind. "Yeah." She sighed, looking over to the clearing Eleanor pointed out. It would be cold but... Anala looked to Eleanor. "That would be so good, I cannot feel my ears." And it wasn't like they had to be saving their spells for a big fight at the end of today. 

Evie’s eyes went back to the hawk, “As much as I’d like the warmth….I think we should save spells, you know...just in case?” she leaned over Anala’s shoulder and said quietly in Elvish _“There’s a hawk that’s been following us. For awhile. I have a feeling it’s not wild. I might just be paranoid but something about it is off.”_

Anala straightened up a little at her words. But otherwise avoided having an outward reaction, forcing herself not to look up and see for herself. “ _I hear you_ . _Let's see where this goes, we need to stop eventually. Keep your guard up, let Eleanor know?_ ” She said back, quiet as Evie, turning her head a little towards her with an easy smile.

 _“I think stopping sooner rather than later would be a better idea. We’re not too far off from the river and if someone’s going to try to jump us...I’d rather it be away from that. I’ll let El know.”_ she pulled an arm from around Anala, grabbed her walkie talkie and spoke in Infernal, “ **I think we’re being followed. There’s a hawk that’s been on us all day. We should stop soon. Rest. Be on guard. Don’t use spells?"** "You guys can pick the spot. I'm good for wherever. I wouldn't mind stretching out a bit." 

El’s eyebrow rose as she got the message from Evie, but she nodded. “ **Understood. I have some ready for fighting if needed. Hopefully, we won’t be bothered.** ” Then she looked over at Anala. “I’m good with this clearing if you are? Unless you wanna find somewhere a little further along. I’m not too picky, as long as there’s somewhere to stretch and maybe a place to sit.”

Anala shared a look with Eleanor, sending a wink. "This'll do. We'll try to find some rocks or something to sit on." Maybe a little bit of cover if they were lucky. Something to put the horses behind if things did go wrong. Her ears would stay cold for a little while longer, until they could be sure that this had passed. She slowed her horse to a stop, waiting a moment to let Evie get down and trying to keep an eye out while also looking anywhere but up at the sky.

Evie slid off the horse and took a moment to look around the small clearing. She hoped it was just general paranoia but she couldn't shake the feeling she was getting. As she waited for the other two she made a show of stretching out, finding reasons to cast her eyes to the sky again. The hawk was gone. "The sky's so beautifully clear today. Especially right now. We've been lucky for such clear riding conditions." She announced to her companions as she ran her hands through her hair, quickly casting Mage Armor on herself. Hoping they understood. 

El stretched a little as she hopped off her horse, humming. “Is it bad that I’m tempted to get in a quick nap while we’re stopped?” Even as she spoke, she brushed her fingertips along the top of her components pouch, making sure it was easily accessible. She didn’t especially _want_ to fight, but sometimes… That was life. When she noticed Evie casting the spell, she pinched the copper wire between her fingers. “ **Could you give me mage armor as well? Just to be safe.** ”

Anala got off the horse after Evie, walking it to the side between two trees. She untucked her amulet from under her shirt, letting it sit where she could grab it easily. Anala hummed to Eleanor's idea of taking a nap, picking up the assumed instruction to be careful with her words. "I'm prepared to Sleep, honestly. Could be good if the weather goes poorly later." She raised an eyebrow over at both of them as she stretched her arms back, hoping they were familiar with the spell enough to know she wasn’t completely talking nonsense. 

Evie smirked at Anala, catching on to her coding, that could be really, really useful. She walked over to her sister, patting her shoulder and casting mage armor, “How’s the riding treating you so far? Your ass sore yet?” she huffed a small laugh and swatted her sister’s backside with her tail as she passed her, grabbed the horses reins and looked for a spot to tie them up, loosely in case they needed a quick getaway.

El laughed softly, relieving some of the tension as she swung for Evie’s shoulder. “I agree, could be good. How long do you think it’ll take to set up camp? Gods know I can’t put together a tent to save my life.”

Anala moved away from the horses, close but not too close to the others. She doubted this would go poorly enough to need a quick escape, but it would be better to account for it anyway. Her ear twitched as she heard the obvious click of a crossbow being loaded. A rough voice carried out to all three of them from beside a nearby tree. “Coin and jewels.” 

Slowly, keeping her hands in sight, Anala turned to the bandit behind cover. She spoke gently, trying to be calming. “I want to let you know now, that you can walk away whenever you like.” 

Evie tried to suppress the smirk on her face, she had been right after all and these bandits were about to have a _very_ bad day, “I’d listen to my companion if I were you. We don’t have anything of interest to you, not that’s worth what you’re trying to do.” Her eyes scanned the tree lines, trying to see if she could spot any of them. 

El turned to where she’d heard the voice come from, an eyebrow lifting. “I promise, darling, we’re not that interesting to you.” She hummed a little, considering. “I think we’d all be better off parting ways.” Her voice was light and cheerful, as calm and soothing as she could manage. “I promise, we have no quarrel.”

There was a cracking of twigs as a tall, rough looking half-elven man stepped out, “Little girls don’t scare us. From where I stand, we have you well outnumbered. Just give us what we want and you can continue on your way.” 

Anala’s friendly smile dropped a little as the half-elven man approached. She raised her eyebrows at him, tipping her head forwards like she didn’t hear him right. “Little girls? Really?” She glanced back at the other two. “Now darlings, I know I said de-escalation, but- “ Anala touched her amulet and her form twisted and shifted. Growing and changing into a goliath of bear. Reared up on it’s back legs, it took a steep breath in and let out a roar loud enough to shake the trees.

Evie grinned stepping towards the now wide-eyed half-elf, as he rose one of his swords, she stopped, “I’d lower that if I were you.” she cast dragons breath on herself, she grinned wider letting out a breath of smoke and ash. She stared the bandit down “ _Silly little bandits aren’t a threat to us. Run while you can”_ she spoke in Infernal, not losing eye contact with the bandit in front of her and a wicked grin on her face. Turning her head slightly she let out a breath, a stream of fire hitting right beside him. He scurried out of the way as Evie laughed. 

Another bandit emerged from the tree line, wielding a sword despite the fear in his eyes. Before he could speak, Eleanor was murmuring, an acid-green open hand suddenly appearing in front of her. “I’d rather not cause trouble,” she said, eyeing the man. “But I am _not_ keen on being called a little girl. You can try to do it again, but I wouldn’t advise it, _darling._ ”

A few crossbow bolts shot out from the shadows of the trees, but only the first managed to connect with Evie in the crossfire. It barely grazed along her shoulder, drawing only the slightest amount of blood as spears rushed past and missed entirely. Some swears were audible from the brush as the sounds of reloading filled the air.

Anala’s bear form swiveled its head around to Evie when it saw the bolts flying through the air, then back to the bandits. With a low, rolling growl, it slammed its claws down at the feet of one of them, positioning itself as a guard between them and the twins as much as possible while surrounded and outnumbered. 

Evie reached for her shoulder, wiping up the blood and looking at it, She let out a low, dark chuckle turning around, purposefully putting her back to the bandit she had been talking to. Calmly walked to stand beside Anala, “We warned you.” she grinned saying another stream of words in Infernal as the ground began to tremble around them.

The sickeningly green hand made a swatting motion, hitting one of the bandits wielding a spear and sending him back a few feet. “You can keep trying, but I _really_ think you’d be better off leaving us be.” Eleanor was grinning, tail flicking. “I mean, we could keep going, if you _really_ prefer, but… I think we’d all be happier if you little boys went on your way.”

One of the bandits yelled a word to the others, and they rushed the three. The bear backed in closer to Evie, taking each strike it could while trying to keep the bandits in line of sight. Crossbow bolts and spears struck the ground and the bear. A single one flying through the air and striking Evie dead on. In the fray two of them cut through to Eleanor, firing a bolt into the tree next to her. The other grappling her, trying to pin her arms away from any components and get a blade under her chin. Not yet trying to cut but to hold as a threat. “BACK OFF.” He turned the two of them around to face the bear and the devil, eyes blown wide and darting between them. “Back off or I kill her.”

El was scowling as her arms were pinned, unamused by the blade held close to her skin. “Fuck you,” she spat, muttering a quick word in Infernal to cast Mind Sliver on the man holding her. “Let me _go._ ” She grinned as she felt the spell strike, hoping the shooting mental pain would be enough to make him lose his grip.

The bear lashed out at the bandit that had thrown the spear through Evie, each strike of its claws getting batted away. Then it stopped. The threat was heard, the growl cut off and it stilled. Still standing between them and Evie as best it could while turning its head back to watch the situation with Eleanor.

The bandit cried out from the spell, tightening his grip on the blade and pressing it in closer to Eleanor’s throat, drawing a small bead of blood to the point. “ _Don’t think I fucking won’t._ ”

Evie cried out as the spear hit her, cutting deep. She pulled it out, holding it tight, and glared at the bandit holding her sister. She quickly dimension doored behind him and dug the tip of the spear into his back, “You try to kill her and my bear friend and I will drop you and your companions so fast you won’t even know you hit the ground.” smoke spilled from her mouth as she spoke. 

His eyes darted between his friends, the bear, what he could see of the ground behind him as the spear pressed in. There was the lock of a number of crossbows aiming at Evie. For a moment, everything was still. The blade pressed into her neck again, a thin trail of blood gliding down the knife. “I die, she dies. Make your choice, fiend.”

She narrowed her eyes, “Fiend? Big mistake buddy.” she dropped the spear reaching around to grab onto her sister and cast Dimension Door. Bringing her and her sister beside Anala Bear, “Fuck em up, babe.” she patted Anala’s shoulder, then turned to make sure her sister was okay.

The second the twins were at the bear’s side, its head swiveled around to watch the others, narrowed and glaring, shuffling to make sure they were guarded as possible. The bear lunged, slashing up two of them within reach that were too close to reaching around its guard of the twins for comfort, quickly shifting to adjust and roaring at the rest.

Eleanor was making a face as she brought her fingers up to her neck, seeing her own blood on her fingertips as she brought her hand back. “Fucker,” she mumbled, looking around at the others. “I can try casting mass suggestion, get them all to head as far away as they can in the next twenty-four hours so they don’t try to come back for us?”

“Its worth a shot otherwise I’m going ot fucking kill them.” she reached a hand to her sister’s neck, slight wisps of smoke still coming out of her mouth, “We need to hurry this spell is about to wear off.” 

The bear lashed out again, making another swipe and its racking claws across another of the bandits. Always sure to back up and return to the twins, not trying to hurt more than just keep at bay.

El nodded, reaching into her components pouch for the snake tongue and honeycomb. She glanced around the clearing at the bandits, considering for a moment. “I think,” she started, voice light and sweet, “the best way to keep all of us happy is for you to go far from us, so no one gets hurt. As far as you can, as fast as you can, without stopping. No need for anyone to get hurt, dears.” 

There was a tense pause as Eleanor waited to see who was affected, but relief flooded through her as the apparent leader blinked, brief confusion on his face, and two others lowered their weapons. One of the men with a spear wasn’t moving away, though, nor was one with a crossbow or the one who’d grabbed Eleanor. “C’mon,” barked the leader, looking at the other men. “This isn’t worth the trouble. I don’t want to fuck around with the damn bear or the demon. Leave ‘em be, let’s hit the road.”

The spear wielder looked at his companions, “This crazy bitch is usin’ weird magic. We could still take ‘em. Think of the shit they’ll ‘ave on ‘em. Pro’bly worth a fortune.” he looked to the others that weren’t moving. 

Evie snarled, taking a step forward and pushing more smoke from her mouth, “I’d listen to your boss if I were you.” 

The boss glared at the spear wielder. “They’ve got a bear and a bitch spittin’ fire. I’m leavin’ before we all get killed, but if you wanna die, fuckin’ go for it.” The spear wielding bandit took another look at Evie and the bear and turned heel, following his boss, cursing the entire time. 

With some hesitation, they eventually got the sense that they couldn’t fight them two on three. The hulking bear made a step towards them, and their legs began to work enough to turn tail and run along with the rest of their friends. Anala gave it a second, blue and hazel eyes trained on the trees they’d fled through, before dropping form back into her elven self. Her eyes lingered on the trees. Before turning back to the twins. “Could have been worse, Hells, that was a rough shot though.” Her breathing was slowly dying down from the height the adrenaline kicked it up to, she reached out to take Evie’s arm, squeezing it tight as she looked over her injury to see how bad it was. “Fucking _brilliant_ spell there though, Eleanor. Fuck.” She breathed out with a laugh, eyes trailing up to Evie’s to get some confirmation on how she was feeling.

Evie felt her dragon’s breath spell finally subside and she let out a small cough to clear the remaining smoke, “You were equally amazing Anala.” she reached over and squeezed the hand that was clasped to her arm lightly, then winced, her own adrenaline fading and the pain from the spear hit becoming apparent, “That son of a bitch got me good though.” she brought a hand to the wound that was still bleeding, “I would very much like to take a rest if we can. Maybe get a potion or two?” she gave a slight, pained smirk.  
  
Eleanor grinned, turning to look at her sister. “Yeah, let’s get some rest. I have potions, we can get a little sleep and just… Try to keep going after. But for now, at least we’re pretty okay and didn’t have to do anything drastic.” She sighed, running a hand through her hair. “I’m just glad I took the time to learn that. Tenen suggested it for being on the road, and… Gods, that’s useful. No wonder he said someone should learn it.”

Anala looked back to the wound. They should sit down first. “There are some rocks over there, better than the ground.” She kept contact with Evie as she led them over, waving her other hand towards the packs kept on the horses and having a mage hand carry over a water skin, then one of the pouches of food. “The man has some good ideas.” She joked over her shoulder to Eleanor with a grin. Then back to Evie. “I can do that spell again? The one that worked for your headache?” It would save them a potion at the very least.

“His ideas for spells were definitely solid. And being out on the road certain ones make more and more sense.” she sat on one of the rocks, wincing slightly again. First time stabbed with a spear, something she never wanted to experience again if she could help it, “If you want. It would save resources as long as you’ll be okay?” 

“They’re not bad ideas, even if he’s a bit of a prat sometimes.” El stretched a little, nodding. “I still think you should take a healing potion. But if we want to be extra safe, I can cast Tiny Hut while we sit. Makes sure nothing too bad can happen, at least.” She perched on a rock, sighing softly. “Not as luxe as the Tower, but it’ll do the trick for a quick rest.”

Anala gave her a smile and nodded. She was unscratched, not a dent. Thanks to the bear form she’d been having fun in. “Tiny Hut will be good, don’t worry about the potions.” She said to Eleanor without taking her eyes off Evie. She shifted her hand to the side of the injury, and with a quietly muttered incantation there was a crackling pop. The wound snapped closed and Anala winced. But it was fine, they were both fine. Just tired as fuck. Anala pulled her hands away and sat herself down with a heavy sigh. “That was exciting.”

Evie watched Anala as she cast the spell, she noted the wince as Evie’s hand reached halfway towards her subconsciously before the tiefling dropped it, “Yeah real exciting. They stuck around longer than I thought they would, all things considered. I really thought we were going to have to take them out. I’m also….really glad I saw that hawk. If they had actually jumped us unawares, that could have gone a lot worse.” she tilted her head at Anala, “You sure you’re good?” and then to her sister, “Your neck okay?”

Eleanor nodded, taking the minute required to cast Tiny Hut. Then she unceremoniously flopped on the ground, groaning softly. “Fuck, I’m glad we didn’t have to properly fight. I have spells, but that shit is _exhausting_ sometimes. And if I had to sling a bunch of spells, we wouldn’t have many for later.” She sighed, hands coming to cover her face. “Neck’s fine. Just a scratch, really. Mostly… What a fucking _dick._ Doesn’t help that I _hate_ being touched. I feel like I need twelve baths before I’ll feel clean again.”

Once the hut was up, Anala leaned back to her elbows, breathing in the new, warm air of their little bubble. Closing her eyes. “I could use a nap? Otherwise? Fucking splendid.” She answered Evie, pushing a hand back through her hair. At Eleanor’s words her eye cracked open. She hadn’t known about the touch thing. “Do you?” She felt like she’d hugged her a couple of times. “Want me to tone it down?” She asked with a raised eyebrow and half a smirk, sure it was fine in some respect, Eleanor had initiated it a couple times. But she’d back off if asked.

Evie crossed her legs and leaned her elbows on her knees, looking at Anala, “Da’leth.” she said by way of explanation, “He has no sense of personal space and we’ve dealt with him for four years now. There’s times I can still feel his grimy hands grabbing my face. It leaves a mark.” she smiled at her sister, “But you’ve recovered a lot from that. I’m sure your partners have something to do with that?” she rose an eyebrow at her.   
  
El shook her head a little, pushing up onto an elbow to look at Anala. “You’re fine,” she said, smiling a little. “It’s… Da’leth. Like Evie said.” She blushed a little, smiling at the mention of her partners. “I mean… Col and Elarel are helping. My earlier dalliances… Probably not so much. I didn’t exactly handle things well for a while there.” She laid back on the ground, staring up at the midday sky through the top of the dome. “I’m still picky about who I let touch me, though. Random fuckin’ bandits aren’t on the list of people I’m willing to allow, turns out.”

Anala fell a little quieter, looking between them. That’d do it. “That’d be where Radlan picked up the habit, huh?” She didn’t much like that either, and she hadn’t had to deal with it for four years yet. Never would if she had her say. Knowing he was just mimicking his boss was a little bit cathartic. Couldn’t form a habit of his own. Gross. Anala snapped out of it by the mention of Eleanor’s partners. Partner? S? Oh wow, that actually made sense. Anala sat up off her elbows, leaning forwards over her folded legs to smile over at Eleanor. “Enough about grimy bandits then, tell me about Col and Elarel?” She’d met them both at Blockbrau at certain points but hadn’t had a ton of time to actually get to know them. Let alone hear what Eleanor had to say about them.

Evie felt her stomach turn at Anala’s comment about Radlan, but chose not to comment on it when Anala changed the subject, despite a million opinions popping into her head on how to deal with him. Not having much to input on the new conversation Evie shifted, stretching out on her back and bringing her arms up under her head as a makeshift pillow of sorts. She could feel weariness settling in as she realized she had expended a lot of energy during that fight, maybe a small nap while her sister gushed about her partners wasn’t such a bad idea. She at least closed her eyes, listening with a small smile on her face. It made Evie happy to hear her sister was making meaningful connections with other people. It had been a struggle for Eleanor and for her to find Col and Elarel? Evie was happy for her. There was a small part of her that was a bit sad. She had always had her sister 100%, but lately she had been seeing less and less of her. While Evie knew her sister would always be there it was odd getting used to her not needing Evie as much as she used to. She let out a small sigh, trying to get the emotions to settle a bit. This was just life. 

“Probably, unfortunately.” Eleanor sighed, shaking her head, but was glad for the change of subject. “I like that topic a lot better. Um… I’ve only been with Col for about a month? And Elarel, uh, that started at Blockbrau. I’ve not known her as long, but… I mean, they both make me feel happy?” She bit her lip, considering how to put it. “Col is so _sweet._ He’s kind, and caring, and… He understands, because he’s been through all of this and worse. Which helps, in a way. And I just… I feel really happy around him. I’ve never really had that before.”

Anala liked it much better too. Eleanor sounded happy too. She got to listen to her friend being happy as she passed around the water skin and collected little bundles of bread, cheese and fruits to distribute as well. “Pretty paladin boy has a bit of a thing for people called El, huh?” She joked with a cheery smile. “Fuckin’ stellar birthday present that is. Congrats.” She said earnestly. That had been a good night. Even if she’d been exhausted she’d been glad to be able to come.

Evie sat up enough to drink some water and have a few bites of food before laying back down, “And Eleanor has a thing for Aasimar so it works out.” She laughed, “And genasi now apparently.” She winked at her sister, “I’m glad you’re happy El. And I’m really glad Col made it. It was nice having everyone together in a low stress environment. It was a great birthday, especially since it’s the first time we’ve really ever celebrated like that..” She closed her eyes again, happy drunk memories floating back to her. 

“I guess so,” Eleanor agreed, taking the food happily. “And in my defense, I didn’t pick Freddie, he was chosen for me.” But she was still smiling and blushing as she ate. “But yeah, it was an amazing birthday. I’m so glad Col made it, and that we just… Got to have a nice time. I really needed that.”

Anala looked between them, swaying her knee into Evie's leg to give it a bump. No reason in particular. She kind of just felt like it. "So what did your partners get you for your birthday?" She smirked at Eleanor and gave an eyebrow waggle. 

Evie opened her good eye to give a playful glare at Anala as she swatted her back lightly with the spade of her tail. 

El laughed, snagging the waterskin. “Elarel doesn’t really care about anything worth eyebrow wagging, and Col just showing up was enough. And… Evie and I had something to do after, so I didn’t go home with them.” She glanced to her sister, smiling softly. “But maybe when I get back from this, there’ll be a secondary present.”

The return whack had Anala grinning wider than she had any right to. It felt like a little confirmation that Evie wasn't doing too bad after all that. So she'd probably poke her a few more times along the way. Even through the haze of her polymorphed form that spear shot had freaked her out. "Want us to send a message home? Make sure they know you're expecting one?" She offered Eleanor, laughing at the idea. It was a joke. But she would.

Evie hummed a quiet laugh, seeing Anala’s reaction before closing her eyes again. She was starting to feel better but wanted to take full advantage of the rest they were getting, just in case. She was definitely looking forward to the tower and a good soak.

That made El laugh even more, stretching as she laid herself back down. “I mean, I hate to burden them with expectations, but… I don’t think I’d complain, either.” She popped a piece of cheese in her mouth, humming a little. “I mean, I did also have plans on flirting more with Zy, if he’s still around when we get back. I’m always enjoying a good flirt.” 

Anala looked over both of them, checking in. Then taking a few bits of cheese and grapes into her hand before laying back again herself. "Zy's good for it. If you catch him in the right mood. He's in the right mood most of the time." The man slept around. A lot. "I dunno how close to the city he's going to be but he'll be at the tower when I take you there?" 

“Sounds like fun.” El was not to laugh more, but it was a nice break from the serious nature of their lives and the mission. “I’m sure I can work something out. I’ll have to talk with Col and Elarel first, of course, but… I mean, either way, I’ll have a nice time.” She hummed softly. “But my nonsense aside, today’s mostly going to be like yesterday, right? Ride ‘til dark or a bit past, cast the tower, spa, food, sleep?”

“Hopefully? As long as we don’t get any other surprises.” Then so would the next couple of days after. It wouldn’t be too bad. 

“All of that  _ please _ .” Evie opened her eyes and looked at the other two, “we should be hitting the road again soon huh?”    
  
“I hope no more surprises. But I’ll also be sure to learn mage armor so I don’t need to keep asking for it. Maybe tonight after dinner I can do that.” El sighed, rubbing her face. “I have no idea how I keep forgetting to add that to my spellbook.”

“Better off that we do. I dunno about you, but I’d rather spend my free time in the afternoon at the tower rather than breaking for too long now.” That being said, the dome was very cozy, and she made no move to start getting up. “Hm? I don’t have it either. More of a shield gal than a mage armor.” Shield and the insane amount of security polymorph gave when it was appropriate.

“You can borrow my book if you need it El.” Evie sat up, stretching out, “You too if you ever want it Anala. It’s one of my staples. People make fun of me for using it but it’s saved my ass  _ far _ too many times. Jokes on them.” she laughed a little, then her smile dropped coming to an unrelated realization, “Um....did….any of us check on the horses after that fight?” 


	7. Never Alone

The rest of the day, after they’d managed to find their horses, passed on as expected. They rode until it got too cold to be outside, then summoned the tower. It was just the same as the last tower, no need for adding anything extra fancy today. Or nothing more fancy than what they already had. In no time at all they were winding down from another day on the road. Ultimately that’s all it had been.

It was hard keeping track of time without her watch, but she was getting more used to it. Now was about the usual time that she sent her messages off to her people. She usually did it alone but… “Want to come with me to the roof?” She offered Evie with a smile as she shook her hair out of it’s tie, grabbing a blanket and standing to make her way over.

Evie handed her sister her spellbook and turned to Anala, ‘Um. Sure if you want the company. Beats staring at her trying to figure out this spell for two hours.” she laughed, grabbing a blanket. “Lead the way.” 

Anala slung the blanket over her shoulder. “I’d love your company.” She insisted, giving a little wave to Eleanor already buried in her work before heading up the ladder to the top of the tower. The temperature dropped, but not all the way. A mix of both the outside air and the magically warm interior that made the blankets that much comfier. Anala sat herself down in the middle of the quaint little garden of potted plants, sure to keep part of the blanket beneath her and the rest wrapped around her. “Gotta appreciate the roof while I can, before I get back to the usual tower.” She pat the ground with one blanket covered hand like a flipper for Evie to come sit just by her.

Evie looked around, taking in the roof, more of Anala’s handiwork, “This whole tower is so damn impressive. It’s going to be interesting to see what El comes up with.” She let out a little laugh and sat next to Anala pulling her blanket tighter around herself.. Scanning the horizon she let out a breath, eyes going wide “Wow. This is a view, isn’t it?” 

Anala had been travelling for a while, she’d had the fortune of seeing a lot of sights, a lot of incredible things. This didn’t feel like much anymore. But watching Evie see it and react to it made it feel much more impressive. After a moment, Anala nudged her with her elbow and tipped her head up towards the sky. The tower had reached past the tree line and made every single star visible above their heads. “That’s my favourite part.” The stars never changed.

She looked at Anala curiously before she followed her gaze,, Evie’s eyes went wider, “Holy shit.” her voice was almost a whisper as she scanned the sky, “I….didn’t realize there were so _many_. I…..” she couldn’t even find words so she settled on being silent for a minute, “You can’t see these from the city. I didn’t think to look when I wasn’t….wow.”

Anala looked back down from the sky to watch Evie. She shuffled her blanket to be able to lean back on her hand, then tipped her shoulder into Evie’s. “When you’re out on the sea there’s nothing blocking the stars. Once you climb up high enough and all good boats have a crows nest.”

“I can’t wait to see that. Hopefully I manage to climb better than I did at Blockbrau.” she let out a small laugh, “You’re probably used to this huh? Do they change at all? Or...well, move? Like the moons do?” 

“Stars? Yeah. Being on the roof of the tower though? Not really, the top floors are where we chuck Tenen and Ari so we don’t have to deal.” She hummed, looking back up at the stars. She hadn’t spent every night inside the tower though, there had been plenty of time to take in the sights. “They change. In some places they look completely different too, different stars, different constellations. Took me a while to notice, I didn’t know them super well.” Her voice had fallen quiet, hushed to not disturb the moment.

“Are those two really that insufferable together?” she chuckled, “Then again I can believe that with how Tenen acts when he talks about her.” She pulled her knees into her chest and wrapped her arms around them, repositioning her blanket to keep covered, “That’s good to know, about the stars. I’ve read about using stars to track locations, just never...really thought about it beyond reading about it.” she shook her head, “Wow. That….came out way nerdier then it sounded.” 

“They’ve gotten better over time. Ten learned to summon alcohol in the tower to give to us as an apology, that was nice.” Over time and many castings of the tower with the added ‘lots of alcohol’ room they’d managed to forgive the two of them. Anala hummed, then laughed a little. “Yeah, that’s pretty fucking nerdy.” She teased, bumping her shoulder into hers. “Farren has all of it memorised. I think she had it memorised before we started travelling, but it's been good.” It was borderline impossible to get lost when they had Farren.

“I mean that’s a good apology. Especially if it's good stuff.” she hung her head with a laugh, “What can I say. I _am_ a nerd. When you grow up with books and tutors and little else….kinda happens. It wasn’t until the Academy that I really got into any sort of combat work.” she shrugged. When she got back she really needed to get with her group, start figuring out things like this. She ran a hand through her hair, not really wanting to deal with the stress of thinking about all that right now, instead she looked back up, “Hells it’s just...so much. But in a good way for once.” she glanced back at Anala, her conversation with her sister earlier in the day coming to the forefront of her mind. She could feel a little heat coming to her face so she rested her chin on her pulled -in knees and attempted to cover part of her face with her blanket, she could feel nerves trying to set in, “So what do you usually do up here?”   
  
Anala had turned away from the sky again to watch the side of Evie's face in the dark. The way she smiled then frowned as her mind went somewhere else. "Books, tutors, and way too much freedom to explore. That was me growing up." As well as the security of a notable Byseas Tyl family name. But they were in the same spot now. "Yeah? You deserve a little of that every now and then." There was more than enough of that out on the road too. Some overwhelming good to balance out the bad. Anala just barely spotted the blush to her cheeks, only acknowledging it with a smile. "I like coming up here to talk to my group. It's kind of cheesy, but one time we talked about how no matter how lost we are, for as long as we walk this plane, chances are we'll be seeing the same stars. It stuck with me." 

“And so are the lives of spoiled, solitary, rich kids.” Evie laughed, “It’s been nice to have some good. Hells, I fucking need it. This semester has been….pretty rough. My whole world has flipped on its head in a span of a few months and it’s so much good and bad. It’d be nice to at least get a balance. You know? Kinda like this mission. It fucking sucks, any mission they have for us is going to. That’s just a fact. I’m sure whatever is waiting at the swamp is going to be pretty awful if it’s caught the Assembly’s attention. _But_ on the other side of it you’re here. So bad _and_ good.” she leaned a bit bumping into Anala’s shoulder, flashing her smile, “And that’s….actually beautiful to think about. A way to be connected if you’re not physically together.” she brought a hand to the stone around her neck, in a way this was her group’s connection and she had barely been without it since Leo had given them to the group.

"It sucks with context. But it hasn't been too bad at all." When she compartmentalised it a little. It was a horse ride, being out in the open, good company and the tower at night. And Evie was really good company. "We have the stars and sending. Sending is a really nice spell." Their separation would be much harder if she hadn't been able to hear that they were alright. "If I was with someone else on this mission then... I wouldn't have summoned the tower. I would have had to make some bullshit excuse to get away from camp to talk to my friends. Probably only get through half of them. I wouldn't have your lovely self to keep me company either."

"That's why I love these," She looked down at her walkie talkie, "Leo made them. They allow us to talk to each other without having to expend a spell and I can talk to everyone at once or just pick who hears me, as long as they have another. Leo...they're always coming up with these really amazing items, I don't know how they come up with them, but I am constantly amazed." She let go of it, letting it fall against her collar bone. Pushing her hair back out of her face she looked over at Anala, "I like to think I'm good company to have around. If anything I'm bound to make an idiot out of myself at some point so that makes for good entertainment if nothing else." She flashed her a toothy grin, sharp canines shining in the dim light. She placed her hands behind her and leaned back on her elbows, stretching out her legs and adjusting her blanket, "I enjoy your company too, Anala. A lot. You're easy to get along with. It's not overly stressful to talk to you and it's...nice." Evie looked away biting her lip, then back up to the sky, "If you didn't already have a crew that needed you I'd probably try to steal you from the Assembly for my own." Evie kept her eyes trained to the sky, she could feel her pulse quickening slightly and nerves trying to set in. She didn't _quite_ understand why, but maybe her sister had been right about some things. Evie wasn't ready to admit to anything to herself yet though, let alone anyone else.

"Leo is such a legend." Anala breathed out with a laugh, watching the faint shine of the gem in the light from the floor below. Honestly, they needed an expert in building magic items. She was pretty sure Yoshik knew one or two... "Your idiot moments are very charming." She hummed happily. She only remembered one of them, the climbing attempt at Blockbrau and in all fairness, she'd been very drunk. Charming still. "You'd steal me away for your own?" She grinned, unable to help but put in a touch of teasing. "Hmm, yeah, you could pull that off. Gotta be careful of that line between looking like a kidnapper rather than a knight in shining armor, but you could pull that off." She joked along. It helped the PR that Evie was pretty and powerful.

Evie froze a moment realizing what she had said, “M-my own group. For my own group, I meant-” she stammered with a laugh, “Case and point...idiot moment. Great at those.” she scratched the back of her head nervously, “And your group would absolutely annihilate me.” her expression grew serious a moment, “Though with the right plan I could probably pick them off one at a time. Especially since you guys have been popping up by yourselves….” she was silent for a moment then broke into a big smile, laughing, “Shit. I can’t even joke about that. Nine Hells.” she shook her head, leaning forward to prop her elbows on her knees and run a hand through her hair.

Anala hummed like she seriously doubted Evie's correction but was playing along with it. To tease her a little more. "Still charming." She leaned back on her palms to look up at the stars, legs crossed and foot bobbing up and down under the blanket, her head swaying a little with the rhythm in her head. Happy and content. "You'd have a tough time of it for sure. The only ones without sending are Tenen and Ari. You'd probably get one kill in but unlikely you'd go unnoticed." She nodded her head along to Evie saying she wouldn't joke about that. Anala didn't mind for the moment.

  
“If I was still the me that I was six months ago, I probably could and not given a shit if it went unnoticed. I’d just work faster. Lucky for your group I discovered that I actually care about people? Then again we would not be here right now if I was still that version of myself.” she looked down at her hands, the awareness of the vision she lacked on her right side coming to the forefront of her mind. It was something she had grown accustomed to, but when she thought about it she was painfully aware, “Funny to think blowing myself up was the best thing I ever could have done for myself.” she laughed remembering something, “You know I had another student attack me with fireball the other day? Dumbass didn’t know about tieflings resistances apparently. Just about killed himself doing it and me? Barely a scratch. It was fucking _wild._ ”

Anala squinted at that, not sure what to say. She'd underestimated how...real? Evie had been being when she'd mentioned trying to kill her team. Her mouth quirked up to a smile, still looking up at the stars. "Yeah that's... super dumb. You really must have done a number on him to freak him out that much. Feeling invincible like that is pretty great though."

Evie looked over to Anala, “I’m not that person anymore. I promise. There’s nothing that would ever convince me to go back to that. Ever.” she let out a small sigh as she looked back out at the dark horizon, “And it was more the satisfaction of someone throwing something at me that they expected to take me out and then it...not. The look on his face.” she shook her head with a small smile, “I’m a survivor. Not invincible. I’m smarter than to think that.” she leaned forward to wrap her hands around her shoulders, tilting her head to Anala. She studied her for a moment, “You been holding up okay? With...everything that’s been going on?” 

Anala listened, and tried to remember it. But the effect of the reminder that they were raised Volstrucker stayed lingering. "I know, darling." She breathed out, still looking up to the stars. Another comment on being invincible was on her tongue but she chewed it back. "I've been good. The escape is treating me well, I've got something to look forward to in our little break we have planned. We're making a good thing of this situation." Those were all upsides, the space they were in now wasn't too bad. "I used to feel pretty invincible with my flame mantle, after I discovered it. It's not so nice anymore. Kinda hurts my head." As well as the problem with the tiredness.

Evie continued watching her as she spoke, “I can only imagine...power like that….feeling like nothing could touch you.” she let out a small sigh, “I feel like...it’s different when you choose to use your magic versus when you’re being forced to. Once you’re away from the Assembly I think you’ll be able to reclaim it as your own again. Maybe it’ll be a little easier to put up with the after effects then. I also can’t imagine you get the best care afterwards when training with Radlan?” 

It used to feel like no one could touch her once she'd turned up the fire mantle. When her friends could just leave her on the field to take care of everything and come back to grab her when everything was done. Radlan and Da'leth had made sure that confidence got undermined during training. "Nah. The extent of care is the time Radlan talked about getting me a cane for when I'm really tired, which _would_ be nice. But I think he just meant it as some kind of insult. Still waiting on getting one. I do hope you're right, it stopped feeling good and maybe that will turn around once I have control of it again." She'd have the choice to not use it ever again if that's what she needed too. 

She scowled, “Fuck that guy. Unfortunately, knowing Da’leth, and in turn probably Radlan, it was absolutely an insult.” she looked up, “Control helps….well no not control. Choice. Having the choice helps. And I’m sure you’ll get that back in no time. The way Tenen talked, and the few things you’ve mentioned, it sounds like you guys were well on your way to having everything figured out to get the fuck out of here.” she gave Anala a hopeful little smile. 

Anala made a disgruntled little noise. "Assholes." She'd have to find some time to get a cane another time. Especially if her training schedule went back to the way it had been after she got back from this mission. "We did. Me being in this program makes it harder when we want to be subtle about it, but we'll manage. Just have to take care of Tenen first. How have you been handling it lately? The escape, not managing Tenen." She was sure to specify with a faint smirk. 

Evie let out a small laugh, “Okay I think? I honestly don’t know completely what I’m doing and everyone got a little...scattered for a few weeks so we haven’t been able to do much. With Col and El out. Elarel’s been really busy lately too. My dumbass also lost my fucking notebook in the estate for like a week.” she ran a hand over her face, “Trying to round out the group too. I’ve had my eye on bringing Elbridge into the group for awhile but….Ikithon did something to him. He’s a proper Empire soldier right now and I need to find a way to break him of that.” she sighed, “So basically I feel like we’ve gotten nowhere short of starting to learn some of the spells that Tenen suggested. When we get back from this I want to get my group together so we can work out what to do next.”

That was difficult, they'd need to figure something out. But at least they were okay enough to be put to work, and the notebook was found again. Something like that almost felt like a regular, normal problem. Out of familiarity or amusement that did make her smile. Then she wasn't smiling. "He's - ?" Anala's volume dropped. "What do you mean? Ikithon did something to him and now he's a proper soldier?" She turned her head to look over at Evie.

“Well, I’m still trying to figure things out. The demon got removed from him, somehow, by Ikithon and then his mind was….heavily altered. He doesn’t remember who he used to be. I even gave him a copy of his old journal even and...nothing. I feel a little guilty saying I like the newer Elbridge a bit better. He’s got a bit more backbone now, less of a pushover which he _needed_ . And if he came along I feel like he’d be more of an asset than old Elbridge. The big problem is he’s part of the program now and thinks Ikithon is some _hero_. That he saved his life or something. It makes my skin crawl every time he talks about him.”

"Evie," Anala whispered, voice shaky. "- I think the big problem there is that the Assembly can just _do_ that. Instantly, you're their toy soldier. What... what do you think that means for us if we show doubt? Or me?" She gave a gesture out to the tower around them. "I go back to my family every time I can, I tell them it's to check in on research but it’s obvious that I'm biased towards them, that they distract me from ‘the cause’. What stops them from doing the same to me the moment I complain too much about being tired?" 

“Because you’re still compliant in what they want, and we’re under Da’leth and not the complete maniac that is one Trent Ikithon. _He_ has no qualms about experimenting on his students. That’s not Da’leth’s style.” She turned toward Anala and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, “Hey, just keep doing what you’re doing and it’ll be fine. Trust me, Da’leth is way too busy to really look into what any of us are doing. A slight benefit for having the Martinet and head of the Assembly as our teacher while a war is threatening to break out. Elbridge’s situation is so different from yours. You’ll be okay, just don’t give them a reason to think anything’s changed. Trust me on this okay?” 

Under Da'leth. Not Ikithon. This wasn't Da'leth's style. He could be reasoned with. Anala turned her face into Evie's hand, squishing her fingers between her shoulder and cheek for just a second. Taking the small comfort. "Okay. Okay, we'll be okay?" Her two coloured eyes locked onto Evie, making sure she heard the correction from 'you' to 'we'. "We'll be okay. We'll pray the experiments don't succeed, and that they don't produce more power to instantly brainwash people to their cause." The last sentence held a bit too much bitterness for her liking. This was awful.

"We'll be ok." Evie echoed noticing Anala's correction to what she had said, "We will." She replied with a tone of complete confidence as she held Anala's stare, "I told you, I got your back. The program may suck but there's a lot you can learn from it too. If you don't think my crew will _absolutely_ use all our training against them if they try to go after us you're not half as brilliant as I thought you were." Evie smirked and gave her a wink, somewhat reluctantly pulling her hand away. Evie repositioned her blanket and leaned her shoulder into Anala's, looking back at her. Evie's voice was soft and reassuring, "You're not alone in this. Even if they try to make you feel isolated. I got you, I promise." 

Anala chewed on the inside of her cheek, watching Evie as she spoke. Glad that she could meet her eyes. She leaned into her as well, tipping her head into her shoulder. "They're good at that... The feeling isolated and shitty thing. Fuckin' sucks." She grumbled, letting herself be irritable for a moment. Because the Assembly was shitfull. She just had to be patient, they both did. "I got your back too, for what me and my friends can do right now."

“None of us are alone now. No matter what they try to do. And I’ll remember that. You all have done so much already. Between Tenen, Farren and you.” Evie glanced over when she felt Anala’s head on her shoulder, she could feel the tips of her ears growing hot but kept it together as she looked up at the stars again, “Nine hells I can’t get over how gorgeous this is. I feel like I really missed a chance to see something amazing when El and I were passing through the mountains out east. Thanks for bringing me up here. Never would have thought about it.”   
  
Anala turned her forehead into Evie's shoulder, squeezing her eyes shut. And Evie smelled like wood smoke and gently scented soaps mimicked from somewhere in Nicodranas. Anala breathed a gentle laugh, not seeing the sky or trees but feeling a cool breeze over her cheek and through her hair. "There are more beautiful things in this world if you take the time to look for them." With everything she and her sister had been through, it couldn't be easy. Give them some time and they'd get there. 

Evie smiled up at the stars, trying to etch every possible detail she could into her memory, “I’m starting to realize that.” she let out a small laugh, “It just takes my half blind ass a bit longer than most to see it, I guess.” she chanced a glance at Anala out of the corner of her eye and instantly felt a lump form in her throat. Evie shot her gaze right back up at the sky before she had the chance to do or say anything stupid. This was far too nice for her to find a way to ruin it, for whatever this was.

Anala felt the shift of turn of Evie's head, remaining still and quiet. It was nice up here alone, but she was happy to be able to share it with someone. Even if their conversation distracted from what she'd come up here to do, she'd needed this. For a while she let a comfortable silence build between them, she silently cast a couple of her sending spells. Then broke the quiet. The peaceful, meaningful quiet where they shared a nice little moment. "What do you think about waffles?" Anala said quietly, turning her head on Evie's shoulder to glance up at the sky. "For breakfast. I was planning to try making waffles."

Evie smiled to herself as the conversation died down, everything felt so calm. Not all moments needed to be filled with conversation. After picking out a few star clusters she thought might be constellations she closed her eyes, her head tilting to the side and lightly resting against Anala’s. She wanted to enjoy this as much as possible after the day they had had. The calm was a nice change of pace. She cracked open an eye and looked at Anala when she spoke, “I think waffles are one of the best foods out there and entirely underappreciated. That would be fantastic. Good filling breakfast, another day of riding. Hopefully no bandits this time.”  
  
Anala hummed with the idea. Waffles were great. There was another comfortable quiet stretch, she got to send off another couple of messages. Heard their replies in her head and let herself relax that much more. Everything was okay. She considered needing to get up, return back down stairs and get some sleep... Evie's head was settled on hers though, this was gentle and soft. She didn't want to be the one to move first.

There truly wasn't anything Evie wanted to do besides what she was doing in this moment. However, as her mind drifted from thought to thought, she remembered something that she needed to do. She let out a soft but pained groan, "Shit. I almost forgot about Kore. I need to swap her form tonight." She cursed herself for not doing it sooner, "We should probably get some sleep soon too." While she said this she did not make a move to get up quite yet, instead she summoned Kore. The feline immediately started stalking one of the plants, pawing at it playfully.

Anala blinked her eyes open, having not even realized they were closed until Evie snapped her out of her head. It was a good point, but Evie didn’t move. Kore was adorably hunting the plants, enjoying the outside. So was Anala. When she moved it was to turn into the tiefling and curl up closer, wrapping her arm around hers, hugging it to herself. “You can do the ritual up here?”

Evie watched Kore, trying not to outwardly react to Anala hugging her arm despite the strange sort of panic that was trying to take over. Instead she simply focused on the cat and nodded, “I can but I need my components and for once I don’t have my bag with me. It’s one of the few spells the focus won’t work for." She thought for a moment, really not wanting to get up, "But, I could do this,” muttered looking at Kore. She half consciously leaned into Anala as her eyes glazing over with an amber sheen. The cat’s eyes glowed a matching amber and she darted down the ladder and into the tower. It took a few minutes to figure out how to gather everything in a way Kore could carry but she managed. After a bit the feline hopped back onto the roof and deposited the brazier and a pouch with the other components in front of Evie as she returned to herself, “I love that trick so much. This is going to take an hour or so, you don’t have to hang out here if you don’t want to. I know it's getting a little late.” She pulled the incense, herbs, and charcoal out of the bag and positioned it on the brazier. She didn't necessarily want Anala to leave but thought offering the option was the right thing to do. Watching someone cast a longer spell wasn't exactly sure the most entertaining thing to do.

Anala had seen Farren and Tenen do this a thousand times. It was still pretty cool, seeing Kore pick up with those bright amber eyes and walk off in a new direction. Always a little unnerving too, only enough unnerving to spice it up a bit, nothing uncomfortable. Her head shifted on Evie’s shoulder, looking up at her, one of her arms unwinding from the blankets and lifting to hover by Evie’s face. Anala seriously, seriously considered booping her nose. It was a cute nose to boop. But after her pause to think she brought her arm back down beneath the blankets. Waited. Then Evie came back to her own eyes and ears. “I don’t mind watching you work, let me know if you need your arm back.” Anala had dragged her up here for her own spell work and made her figure out how to stay put for a find familiar ritual, wouldn’t be right to ditch her now.  
  
Evie smiled at her, scrunching her nose a little, “You can keep it for now.” she used her free arm to position everything appropriately. She clicked her tongue a few times to call Kore over, “We’re doing this again girl but not a dog this time. Sorry. Hopefully you’ll enjoy this one.” She pulled the cat into her lap and gave her a few scratches between the ears. With a flick of her hand she lit the components inside the brazier and got to work. It was getting easier, the dog had been a bit of a challenge since it was a little outside the confines of the spell, but the hawk happened with a little less effort. An hour passed and the cat that was Kore was now a beautiful amber-feathered hawk. She hopped off Evie’s lap and puffed up her feathers letting out a slightly distressed cry. Her head turned to Anala and jerked to the side as she let out another small squeak, “I don’t think she knows what to do with herself.” Evie laughed, finally breaking the silence that had fallen as she completed the spell.

Anala watched the ritual, listened to the soft incantations and tried not to let her eyes fall closed for too long. The squawk from the bird had her head lifting from Evie’s shoulder, opening her eyes despite not remembering when they’d even been closed. “Oh?” She blinked a couple of times to re-orientate herself, smiling down at the new Kore. “Being a different animal is pretty weird, isn’t it, little buddy?” Anala reached out a hand, waiting for some kind of permission from Kore before petting her the way that she knew Farren’s bird liked.

Kore stood there, head tilting from side to side as she stared at Anala's hand. She let out another squeak and fluffed up again then relaxed hopping forward and churring as she shoved her head into Anala's hand. Evie couldn't help but laugh, "Hells, you're so dramatic." Shaking her head she dumped the ashes from the brazier into the empty components pouch and used prestidigitation to clean the brazier, a yawn escaping her, "I think it's that time. I'm beat. You ready to go down?" 

Anala yawned into the back of her hand, glancing up at the sky another time. "Yeah, let's go." There was another full day of riding ahead of them. Anala stood up and offered Evie a hand, which she took gladly as they made it downstairs to join Eleanor and get a good night's sleep. 


	8. The Tower

Anala tucked her hair behind her ears, having already pulled it free of it’s tie. “We can start with the stone today, working with the adamantine gets weird so quick.” She laid out her jacket in the snow, dealing with the cold for the next couple minutes in favor of having something to sit on. Book open on her lap, amulet wrapped around her hand, she turned to Eleanor to see that she joined her. It had taken a little while to find a space they were confident could fit two towers, but they’d managed. Now they were prepared to have Eleanor set up her first casting of Galder’s. “Had any thoughts about what rooms you want to make?” She threaded her fingers together and stretched them out in front of her. She spared a glance to Evie, checking in with her as she and Eleanor settled down for the ritual.

While the other two got ready to start building the tower Evie found a tree to lean on and sat down, Kore resting on her arm. She met Anala’s eyes and gave her a small smile before focusing back on the hawk, “Okay girl. You will know what to do. I know this is new for you but we’ll be together.” Kore gave her a small screech and took off from her arm. The tiefling settled in as her body relaxed against the tree, she senses deafening and her eyes lighting up in the now familiar amber glow. A moment later she was sharing sight with Kore soaring through the trees as they scouted the area. 

Eleanor smiled nervously as she set her own jacket in the snow, taking a seat. The uncertainty was still there for her, because she’d never taken the time to cast the spell before, but she was also excited to give it a try. “I think it’d depend on how many levels we want it to have,” she admitted. “I mean, I have definitely been enjoying the spa to warm up and relax after the slog that is riding all day. And if we’re getting close to the swamp, it might be nice to have a study so we can start to plan what exactly we’re doing.” She could feel her leg bouncing as she spoke. “And I mean, a bedroom would possibly be nice, but I’ve also been enjoying the blanket room a lot. It makes me feel safe.”

“A study would be a fantastic idea for tonight.” Anala toyed with the chain of the amulet, winding it around her fingers and back as she thought. “Definitely try summoning a bathroom, that’s more challenging than bedrooms and studies. You’ll want that on the lowest floor so if it leaks it doesn’t ruin anything.” Anala still kept hers on the lowest floor and she hadn’t been bothered by water soaking through the ceiling in ages. One occasion of it happening was more than enough. “Yeah? I’m glad, it’s definitely a favourite of mine.” Anala beamed, happy Eleanor enjoyed the blanket room as much as she did.

“A bathroom. I could definitely try that.” El nodded, considering. “A nice tub to soak in, stuff to wash off the day… I think I could make that happen. So a bathroom and a study, anything else?” She was already starting to think about what the bathroom ought to look like, head slightly tilted. “So how do we cast this, exactly? Like, do I cast it first, then you, so they’re, uh, stacked?”

“If you want to try stacking them on our first try we totally can! But you’ll have to make the base really strong or it will completely collapse.” Anala laughed a little, not minding the idea of the tower imploding. So long as neither Eleanor or Evie minded taking longer as they got rid of it and constructed a new one. Or two separate new ones. “I think making the lower levels might be easier, so I’ll be top. Be sure to do the blank first floor so I can lay down some wards there for extra safety.”

“Right, right. So cast it at fourth level, blank first floor, then bathroom, then study. I think I can do that. And make sure the base is properly sturdy.” El smiled at Anala, then pulled the components she needed from her bag. “So… Let’s get to work!” She was tentatively excited, trying to temper that with realism. Gods knew casting a spell like this for the first time had potential to go horribly wrong. 

“You can totally do that.” Anala leaned over and gave Eleanor a nudge with her elbow. This would be great, success or not, she was conjuring her first tower. It was a giddy feeling with some recent nostalgia woven in, getting to introduce someone else to it. “Let’s do it! This sequence first.” She gave the encouraging reminder like the flag to go ahead, pointing to a spot on her spell book and smiling to Eleanor to pick it up from there.

  
Eleanor nodded, pulling her glasses from her pocket, then started working on the spell. She was a little worried, still, but her confidence was growing. She was curious to learn the tweaks that Anala and the rest of her group had made to the spell, but for now, learning to cast it as it was written was a good plan. After ten minutes had passed, a three-story tower stood before them, and Eleanor was looking at it curiously. “Should we inspect it before we start the next, or form the next tower to see if it all falls over before we get too attached to this one?”

Anala watched over the spell casting process, re-familiarising herself with how it was originally meant to be cast in the hope it could help her teach her version better. Sure to be quiet as well, not wanting to distract. Then it was here, and Anala grinned. “Let’s check it out! Don’t you want to see all your work?” She’d try to get a good idea of how sturdy it was too. Anala picked herself up, hugging her book to her chest and offering a hand down to Eleanor while she glanced over at Evie to see if she was still scouting. 

“I _absolutely_ want to see my handiwork.” El took Anala’s hand and hopped up, grinning as she looked at the thirty-foot tower ahead of her. “Let’s give it a check, see what’s happening. But first..” She walked over to her sister, shaking Evie’s shoulder gently. “Hey, c’mon. We’re gonna look at how my tower turned out!”

The hawk flew down, brushing Eleanor’s hair with a wing before settling in the tree above Evie as the tiefling came back to, “El. You HAVE to try that some time. Turn Ash to a Hawk and do this. It was really cool. Also it looks like we’re okay for now. I’ll do one more sweep later tonight.” she stood and looked over at the tower, “You did it! Yeah lets go check it out.” she smiled at the other two as Kore launched off the tree and landed on the top of the tower. 

Anala shook off her jacket and slipped it back on, watching as Kore flew about. “We still gotta do that cliff diving trip one of these days.” She’d never had a familiar, but she was willing to bet that if Evie liked flying around with Kore than she’d love doing it on her own. Polymorphed or not. Flying was fucking great. “Give us the grand tour, babe.” She turned towards the tower and held out an arm for Eleanor to take.

“I _absolutely_ want to go cliff diving.” Eleanor laughed a little, taking Anala’s arm happily. When they stepped inside, the first level was empty. “It only has the ladder, unfortunately, but such is life.” She climbed it quickly, gasping softly when she saw the room. “Oh shit, I’d say I did pretty well. Come on up.”

“Oh we are _absolutely_ going cliff diving. Soon hopefully.” she smiled at Anala as she followed her sister into the tower, “Oh no a ladder, whatever will I do? I don’t know how to _climb.”_ The sarcasm was heavy in her voice, followed by a laugh as she climbed up, “This looks great El!”

Anala grinned right back. It would be a good little adventure. She let go of Eleanor as they stepped up to the ladder, instead standing aside to let them both go up first while she looked at the wall. Reaching out, she tapped her fingers along the stone and the seams between them, eyes wandering over the wall until it was her turn to make the climb. “Oh, nice!” She made sure to climb all the way up before talking a proper look around at the room Eleanor had made.

“Listen, you don’t have depth perception. What if you fall? I’d be the terrible sister that let her half-blind twin fall off a fucking ladder.” Eleanor was laughing, though, looking around the room. It was a bit different than the spa that Anala had made previously—more like a bathhouse than the outdoors, with a small assortment of soaps for cleaning themselves. There were towels and robes again, fluffy and white and already luxuriant. “Just be sure not to wear a robe up to Anala’s tower, because I’m _pretty_ sure it’d disappear once you crossed the threshold.”

“Wow fuck you. I can climb _ladders._ ” her tail flicked in slight irritation, “If you really feel that way then you better get on figuring out stairs or something otherwise it’ll be your fault if I fall and hurt myself, scheißkopf.” she shook her head, “What do you think Anala? You’re the expert here.” 

Anala breathed in the room, letting the warm internal air in, flexing her toes in her boots. Not a hint of the biting cold. "I would have saved you from feeling like a terrible sister Eleanor darling, I was still down there to catch her." She jumped in on the joke with a happy smile as she stepped into the room, looking around, fingers trailing along the wall. "The robes are _wonderful_ , perfectly fluffy." That was a hard point to get too. "Doesn't look like anything is leaking either. I like the soaps! I think the floor could be a little less slippery, but it's not too bad. The walls are looking okay so far!" She was a little concerned, but they'd have to wait until the top floor to really tell. Her eyes traced back to Eleanor and Evie to see that her assessment was okay.

“Don’t worry, I think you can climb ladders. I just wanted to be an asshole. And if Anala is there for you to fall into the arms of, you’ll be just fine.” Eleanor laughed a little, shaking her head. “Thank you, Anala. I mean, I agree. Definitely a bit slippery, but I was kinda working from memory. But now I know for the future.” She glanced to Anala, still looking nervous. “Next is a study, so… Let’s go get a look.” She went up the next ladder, looking around. It had been what she’d pictured and worked on: a cozy study, a mix between the better study spaces at the Academy and the study at her and Evie’s home. It was cozy, a fire blazing, and full of comfy chairs and couches. There was also a large table and plenty of paper and ink. 

Evie scowled at her sister, face flushing ever so slightly as she followed her sister up. She had been planning on taking a playful swipe at her sister once on the landing but instead got completely distracted by the room, “Nine hells Eleanor. This is...perfect.” she walked further in, running her hand a long one of the bookshelves and looking at what her sister had chosen to stock the room with. She could see herself getting completely lost in this room. 

Anala emerged in the next room last. "Gorgeous!" She stepped in, doing a quick spin to take in the full room. Something about it struck her as odd, but she couldn't figure it out just yet. Immediately she went over to the fire place, reaching out a hand to feel the perfect warmth from the fire. "It's very cozy. I like it." Then it clicked. It looked like their home, that's what had been nudging at her. "If you don't want to risk losing this tower, and you made good roof access, I could try building mine close enough that we could have a door out of my tower to this one's roof?"

“Thank you,” El murmured, tucking her hair behind her ear anxiously. “I mean… We could give stacking them a try? Just to see if it works before modifications or not. I’m kind of curious.” She watched her sister walk around in awe, a bit of pride swelling in her at the sight. “I thought you’d like this, Evie.”

Evie pulled a random book off the shelf and started flipping through it, “I really do El. You did good.” she looked between the two, “What do you think would be best?” 

Anala wandered over to Evie, peering over her shoulder to see how the text had come out on the book. "It might hold up? All things are temporary, there's beauty in knocking down your work for progress, yada yada. We can always cast it again for more practice if it crashes? But it's up to you if you're ready to risk it." She looked to Eleanor for her call, not wanting to do anything she was uncomfortable with.

“Thanks, Evie.” Eleanor smiled, feeling confident. “I think it could be worth trying. I’ll be fine no matter what. Plus, I can fix the issues if it does fall, right?” She was saying that to reassure herself more than anyone, but who could really tell? Evie, probably, but Eleanor could feign confidence.

Evie looked over her shoulder at Anala and held the book up. It was in full Zemnian. Her attention shifted to her sister. She could pick up the slight tone in Eleanor’s voice. The slight masking, “We can always try that another day if you want to keep this one here tonight. It is your first casting. It would be kind of a bummer if it collapsed.” 

Anala peered at the text, thinking it was scrambled for a moment before recognizing the repeating patterns. It was Zemnian. That was cool. "Exactly." Anala assured, head lifting to look to Eleanor with an encouraging smile. It might take them a while, and a couple more collapses, but they'd improve for sure, and they had time before Eleanor really needed it perfected. She didn't spot the uncertainty until Evie made her reassurances, she still didn't really. But looking between the two of them, she fell quiet to not interrupt the process of figuring that out.

Eleanor could practically feel the weight leave her shoulders as Evie gave her an out. “It would be a little upsetting,” she murmured, nodding. “Did you wanna see the roof before Anala goes to make the other one?” She made her way to the ladder before anyone could answer, climbing up excitedly. She smiled broadly when it was exactly how she’d pictured it—low walls to lean against, cushions, blankets, a lamp, and some flowering vines twining around railings on top of the little walls. 

Evie climbed up and looked around, walking to her sister and wrapped her arms around her, "You're brilliant. If this is your first casting….I can't wait to see what you do with the next one. Maybe I should learn it too and we can tag-team it." She gave her sister a kiss on the cheek then let go to explore the area. At one point she stopped to take a moment to look up at the stars, a small smile on her face, before continuing to look around at the various objects. 

Anala was glad there was roof access, it made building the connecting tower way easier. Her mind was already working over ways to do that. This would be cool. Anala smiled, drifting her hand over a vine woven through the railings, admiring the comfy set up. Then looked at Eleanor, her smile turning a little sad, gone as quick as it came. "Could be fun? It would let you get a ton more practice in without me having to be there too." Anala leaned over the railing, back foot lifting as she stared all the way down. "I think I could cast mine from up here, ground's close enough. Better than going and sitting back out in the snow?"

“I think that could be a good idea, Evie. You can start copying it from my spellbook if you wanna.” Eleanor hugged Evie tightly, glad for the unspoken understanding of her neurotic tendencies. “And yeah, if you think that’d work, I’d say do it. Then we could go down to the bathroom and soak for a while, get nice and warm. I’m so fucking tired of riding in the cold, honestly.” She leaned over the railing as well, the pride still making her chest feel light and warm. “I thought having a nice rooftop area would be a good touch. Do you like it?”

Evie nodded to her sister’s question, “It’s great El. I’m proud of you.” she leaned her back against one of the other railings, her tail swaying lazily behind her. She could feel the weariness of the day settling in, and the worry of how much closer they were getting to...whatever was waiting in the swamp. Kore landed next to her, leaning slightly against her arm with a small squeak. Evie reached over with her other hand and scratched the back of the bird’s neck. She puffed up happily as Evie turned to watch Anala. 

"I do, love. It's really nice." Anala hummed, shooting a grin back to her as she tightened her grip on the railing, leaning over a little more. She eyed where the door had appeared on their tower. Best not to block that. "Any requests for the other tower? Kitchen, sleeping room, then one more to make them even. I've never tried a little conservatory? Or a cellar?" Anala stepped back from the railing, noticing Evie's eyes on her and winking. She sat herself down on one of the cushions, setting up her ritual space.

“Thank you both,” El mumbled, going to sit on one of the cushions. “I thought you’d want to do the empty bottom floor, since it’s not stacked? But a conservatory could be really cool.” She smiled, looking up at the sky for a moment. “This is… Nice. I know it won’t last, but for now, I like it. Is that bad? Like, I’m enjoying being away from the city and the eyes of the Assembly, but the travel itself is pretty nice, too.”

Evie nodded in agreement, closing her eyes, "Conservatory would be nice. Would you be able to do the maps again? I want to check a few things. We'll be getting to the swamp pretty soon. The next day or two if I remember right." Part of her wished the trip was longer, and part of her had spent the last day or so pretending that it was so all this didn't have to end. But it was time to come back to reality at least a little, for the sake of them surviving this. 

"I could? But I don't really feel like casting protection on two bottom floors so I figured... I'll not give the other tower a door. You'll see what I mean." Anala cracked her knuckles, keen to try it out. She had built balconies before, this shouldn't be too different. "It's not often that things get to last forever, you deserve to let yourself enjoy the good things while they're around. Do you feel bad for it?" It was hardly something she should feel bad about, especially if the whole master plan was built around doing just what Eleanor said. Get away from the city and Assembly. Anala gave a little hum in response to the request for maps. Closing her eyes and her fingers around her amulet. Levelling her shoulders, she held up the piece of adamantine in her off hand, feeling it lift from her palm and hover as shimmering threads of air began to weave her tower for them. For the ten minutes she manipulated the threads, spinning them about in the shape she wanted until they started solidifying, forming into that fraction of that tower she knew and loved. Anala opened her eyes. Stretched out towards their roof top was a greenish grey circular metal tower. Atop its roof, with all of its neat potted plants, was a collapsed short wall giving way to a balcony that stretched all the way over to Eleanor's and moulded around it like a crescent moon. All they'd have to do was hop the railing. 

“That makes sense, then.” Eleanor crossed her legs, leaning forward slightly. “And, uh. I mean, I’ve never been great at… Letting myself enjoy things for what they are, I guess. I’ve always been told everything needs to be perfect, and I think I really took it to heart.” She shrugged, grabbing a blanket and tugging it around her shoulders as she watched Anala cast the spell. When she saw the walkway form, she grinned, eyebrows raised. “Okay, that’s really cool. I can’t wait to learn more about modifying the spell.”

Evie watched as Anala cast her spell, eyes traveling between the elf and her magical threading the whole time. Magic casting never ceased to amaze Evie. It was one of her favorite things, the complexity, the endless possibilities, and the beauty of it. It was also interesting to see how everyone seemed to cast things differently, each one having their own signature way of doing things. Anala was very elegant in her work. Once it was done Evie walked over to the railing that separated the two towers, “Wunderschön.” 

Anala breathed out, picking herself up off the ground. "I'll be around somewhere to give tips any time you like, but you've probably got it handled." She hopped up onto the railing and swung her legs over to the other side, carefully placing her toe over the edge onto the other tower's balcony. Then shifting more weight over. "Care to check out the conservatory?"


	9. Everyone Gets Stabbed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Mention/description of needles/piercing/blood

Anala had fallen quieter than usual that night, lost in thought. Neither of the twins had called her out on it yet and she was glad for it. It was just nerves. Trying to psych herself up for it. After the bath where she’d washed her ears four or five times, she thought she might as well say it now. Before putting on the comfy clothes she had for sleeping, still in the bath robe with a towel wrapped around her shoulders, she managed to find her voice before either of the twins left for another floor. “That offer for a piercing or two still open?” She asked up, unconsciously tugging on the end of one of her pointy ears. Through the nerves an excited smile was already tugging at her lips.

Evie hummed happily to herself as she changed into her comfy clothes and started working on arranging her drying curls around her horns when Anala spoke up, "Of course!" Evie brightened up, walking over to her. Her eyes fell to Anala's ears a moment, studying the shape a bit closer and scanning them to take a guess of what she had decided on, "Did you figure out what you wanted?" 

Eleanor perked up as well, grinning. “I’d love to do that.” She followed Evie, looking at Anala’s ears curiously. “I still think a whole row of hoops would be beautiful. And if we’re doing piercings, Evie, can we do my lip as well? I think it’ll look lovely.”

Anala let go of her ear, the end of it bouncing up again. “I did.” She laughed a little at the suggestion from Eleanor, a little daunted by the idea. “Just two -” She gestured to two spots along her ear. “- here and here. Close enough to link with a short chain.” She said, watching Evie look over her ear. After thinking more on it, that was the idea she kept coming back to. She was sure that’s what she wanted. 

"Yeah El I can do that easily." Evie's took in where Anala pointed, "And Anala that’s perfect. Especially since this is the first time. I think that'd look really great and we can always add more later.” her tail flicked excitedly, mind was already running over what she needed. Her bag was upstairs and she was pretty sure she had a kit with a needle in it, “I’ll be right back!” she cast dimension door over to the other tower to get her bag.

“It’ll be great.” Eleanor smiled, looking at Anala curiously when Evie disappeared. “What made you decide that tonight we should do it?”

Anala blinked with Evie’s sudden disappearance. “Okay!” She said to the open air where Evie had been a second ago with a nervous laugh. It would be fine, she was in good hands. “I think I finally convinced myself that putting it off was going to make it worse. What with the swamp and all.” She could risk doing it after the swamp, but she liked the idea of it being fully healed before she went back to her training.

“I mean, that makes sense.” Eleanor nodded, adjusting her hair a little so it’d dry properly around her horns. “I understand that. Are you that nervous about it? Or do you just not want to wait until after?” 

There was the laugh again, but she was trying to relax now, she had locked in her decision. “Tattoos are fine, I’ve done them before and I know how to deal with them. Piercings go all the way through, and it’s in my _ear_. Elf ears are sensitive! I’ve got nervous jitters. But I’ve got this. I’ll be fine.” She was mostly psyching herself up again, but she was confident.

“Anala,” Eleanor said, smiling. “It’s gonna be fine. I promise. My ears aren’t quite as sensitive, since I’m a half-elf, but… You’ll barely feel a thing. Promise.”

“Okay.” Anala nodded, taking her words to heart and trying to let it help her settle her nerves. She was going to have far too much energy. “Okay.”  
  
Evie popped back in, satchel in hand, “Sorry I thought I didn’t have it but we are good to go.” She set her bag down on a counter and pulled out a case. She walked over to Anala sensing her unease, putting a hand reassuringly on her arm “You okay? I know it’s a little nerve racking but I promise you’re barely going to feel a thing the way I do this. The last thing I would ever do is something that would really hurt you. This is nothing compared to the shit any of us have been through.” she smiled and gave her arm a little squeeze, “So last question before we do this, are we doing just one ear or both?”

Anala smiled a silent ‘welcome back’ at Evie’s return. Her eyes fixing onto Evie as she spoke her assurances, squeezing the hand on her arm with her own hand. “Yeah! I know. I’ve definitely dealt with worse. It’s silly. Just… thank you. I trust you.” She trusted Evie’s word and that helped. That was a good question. She could do both? “I’ll see how I’m feeling after the first two if that’s alright? I was thinking of doing the right ear.”

She nodded, “Of course. Whatever you’re comfortable with. So this is how we’ve done it before and it’s pretty effective. I’m going to use my dragon’s breath to basically numb the area with cold, then pierce it. El, if you can have prestidigitation in case there’s any blood? Honestly you won’t feel a thing. Soreness once the cold wears off but besides that, you’ve got this.” Evie gave her another reassuring smile, opening up the kit and pulling out a needle, “Ready?” 

Anala made sure her hair was tied securely away from her right ear, not wanting it to go anywhere near the piercing for the perceivable future. “Ready.” Her eyes turn to the front, going unfocused and waiting, hands clutching the towel still strung around her neck.

Evie took a moment and cast dragons breath, feeling the familiar feeling through her throat and sinuses. She shook her head, the cold wasn’t one she used very often. Stepping to the side of Anala she carefully cradled her ear and leaned in taking a deep breath and breathing out cold ever so slightly. The control was hard but she had plenty of motivation to make sure she didn’t fuck this up. Just enough to numb the area, “Is that numbing it? Can you feel this?” she pinched the spot between her nails.

  
Don’t get distracted. Don’t let the knee start bouncing. Anala’s eyes flickered as Evie ever so gently breathed cold magic onto her ear, her breath stopping. It was a strange feeling. So cold but secluded to just her ear. “Mhmm.” She fought the urge to nod. “Not really. There’s a bit of pressure but nothing much.”

**((TW: Mention/description of needles/piercing/blood))**

Evie nodded, “Alright, close your eyes if you want.” she pulled out a gold hoop from her kit, extras she always had in case any of hers fell out, and held it on her off hand, taking the needle in her other. She nodded to her sister to ready Prestidigitation and holding Anala’s ear lightly she pushed the needle through. She pulled it out and quickly replaced it with a gold hoop, “There! One done! How’d that feel? Good for the next?” 

Anala did close her eyes. Her body stiffened as the needle passed through. But she stayed very, very still. “Yeah, good to go. Weird, but fine. Woah.” She let out a breath she hadn’t realised she’d held. 

Evie smiled, “Do you want to do both ears?” 

Anala took a second to think. “Let’s do it.”

Evie nodded again and got to work on the rest. Ice, stick, swap, repeat. In no time all four were done and she stepped back a little to examine her handiwork, “You might want to give it a day or two to heal, maybe a potion, before putting a chain on it. The area’s going to be sensitive for a bit. But you should be able to wear them how you want in no time. It really suits you Anala.” she beamed, proud of her handiwork. 

Anala kept grip on the towel. Breathing turned highly controlled and steady as the process continued. It got easier, even if the pain turned up ever so slightly. As she felt Evie leave and start to explain, her eyes blinked open. “Fuck yeah.” She let out a breathy laugh. Her hand reached up, half considering touching them but... Best not.

Eleanor had been ready with prestidigitation, cleaning up any blood as soon as it appeared. It’d been interesting, watching Anala’s reactions. “Yeah, don’t touch them yet. Let it heal for at least a day or two, trust me.” She grinned, turning to her sister. “So… Lip ring. Let’s do it.” 

Evie reached out and gave Anala’s arm another squeeze before stepping over to her sister, “You know what’s great about this? It’s gonna hurt to talk for a few hours. I’m going to ask you SO many questions.” she snickered, and followed the same process, but this time using a silver ring. “There!” she felt the spell wear off as she took a final breath, releasing a small cloud of frosty air, “How’s it feeling Anala?” 

Anala shuffled her feet, taking a couple restless steps to get some of that remaining nervous energy out. She turned around, looking about the room for a mirror, hoping Eleanor had summoned one. It was a little foggy but she found one, wiped it clean, and spent a long minute turning her head to look at the new additions. “Feeling awesome. Hurts a little but… worth it.” She dragged her eyes away from the mirror to look over at the twins. “How’s your lip feeling?”

“Piss off, I’d chug a healing potion just to spite you.” Eleanor laughed, but otherwise let Evie do the work. She snapped, the blood disappearing instantly, then grinned. “ _Ow,_ ” she murmured, walking towards the mirror Anala had gone to. “Hurts a bit, but not too terrible. Can’t be as bad as when Evie did her septum, I’d imagine.” She took a look, admiring the band of silver over the center of her lip. “This looks _amazing._ ”

Evie watched Anala admiring her new piercing until she was distracted by her sister. She snorted a laugh at Eleanor and pulled two potions from her bag, handed one to her sister and brought the other to Anala, “Here. These’ll help stem the pain and accelerate the healing. At least I knew to numb shit this time. This” she tapped her septum, “Yeah this hurt like a bitch cuz I was a total dumbass.” 

Anala took the potion, watching Eleanor to peer over at her new piercing. “Hells, I can imagine.” She uncorked the bottle and drank the lot. The pleasant warmth quickly creeped through her and numbed what faint persistent pain she’d had going on. “Are you going to be joining us in this camp tonight?” She pointed with the empty potion bottle to her ear and Eleanor’s lip, smirking at Evie with an arch of her eyebrow.

  
Evie thought for a moment, “I have a bunch already. Though I have been thinking of doing a forward helix?” She looked to El, “Think you could do that? On the left? It’d be pretty simple.”

“I could do that, no problem. I don’t have the ice breath, but prestidigitation can chill an area so I think that’ll be fine.” El drank the potion before going to the kit, grabbing a new needle and a small silver hoop. “C’mere, let’s do it. New piercings for everyone!”

Evie stepped over to her sister, knowing the prestidigitation didn’t numb quite as much as dragon’s breath but setting her jaw and taking it. Hells, she blew herself up on a somewhat regular basis, this will be nothing. “Let’s do it.” 

“Sorry I don’t have more for you,” El murmured, casting the cantrip. Once Evie’s ear was cold to the touch, she quickly pierced through the cartilage, making the blood disappear with prestidigitation before pushing the ring through. “Hope that was fast enough,” she murmured, kissing her sister’s cheek happily. “Looks pretty, though!”

Evie could feel the dull pain, “Nope that’s the way to do it. I’m golden.” she smiled over to Anala, “There, now we all have something.” she looked between the two, “So we got anything else we want to do tonight or should we turn in?” 

Anala found herself a seat as she watched them back and forth work on the new piercing. Not able to decide if it was weirdly fascinating or gross to watch the needle go through. “I want a snack, then turn in.” Just a little something to nibble on and make her feel better. She stood, stretching out her legs. She went to Evie to give her a nudge with her elbow. “It does look really nice.” Evie had good taste in piercings though. It 


	10. Pistachios

As they continued travelling along the path on horseback, Anala's thoughts wandered. They wandered to Eleanor and Evie, the conversation she'd had with Evie about her sister an age ago. Dropping her voice to speak softly to the girl over her shoulder. "How have you and Eleanor been?" She knew they'd been rocky at some points, but they'd seemed good while she'd been there. Not that could count for everything.

Evie had been half dozing again, as she tended to with not much to do, “Humm? Um I think we’re doing okay? El has seemed pretty happy lately. The last mission she went on took a lot out of her and I don’t think she’s completely over how badly things apparently went, but I think having Col and Elarel has been helping her a lot.” she still didn’t know exactly how she felt about her sister’s partners, but then again it wasn’t any of her business at the end of the day. As long as Eleanor was happy. She chewed the inside of her cheek, “We’ve been alright. I know, having almost everyone getting sent off and scattered has had me on edge and there was an incident with Elbridge that was...tense. But I think he’s doing okay now. We kind of gave his past self a send off. It was therapeutic I think. Just, trying to figure things out and be there for my friends you know? Honestly Eleanor and I haven’t had much time to spend together. She’s been keeping busy, but I kind of think that’s okay? Just gets a little lonely sometimes.” she gave a little shrug.

Anala smiled at the path ahead, directing the horse around some roots of an old nearby tree. “That’s good…” A couple questions popped to mind, but one at a time. “I’m sure you’ve helped her a lot too.” Not the same as her partners but being her sister was no small connection. A twin family bond as strong as theirs felt like a rare sort of thing, even if they sometimes caused each other incredible amounts of stress. “You’ve got this mission? Take all the breaks you can get. Don’t get me wrong, I  _ adore  _ your company but if you want a moment to have a chat with your sister alone just say the word.”

"I hope I have. There's times I feel like I should have been more upfront with her, and it's caused problems. But we always work through it and move on, which we're lucky for I guess." She rested her chin on Anala's shoulder, something that had become almost second nature rather than a conscious action over the last few long days of travel, "This mission has been weirdly great. It's been a nice break from just... everything that's been going on at the Academy. It has me a little worried about the potential shit show we're going to find in Lebenda, but I'm staying hopeful?" She let out a small sigh, "El and I have gotten a little time to talk, it always ends with her teasing me about one thing or another, but if something comes up during this trip and I need to. I'll let you know." There were some things she wanted to talk to her sister about, but they were things that could wait until after they got back. 

Anala felt a little bit of warmth spread throughout her chest as Evie’s chin came to sit on her shoulder. “Good company and a slight change of scenery can work wonders like that.” Gods, she missed being able to travel away from problems. Whenever the weather sucked, or there was a particularly angry barkeep around, or there was an annoying noise out the window. They could always just pick up and travel a little longer to somewhere else. Unless the annoying noise was from one of their group, but she’d learned to live. “We’ve got pretty good reason to be hopeful. Look how we took care of those bandits!” They’d had to beat them up a little, and Evie got hit quite badly, but it had all been nothing they couldn’t handle. They were a good team for how little they’d been travelling together. “She’s got a lot of fuel to tease you about, huh?” Anala turned her head a fraction towards Evie with a smirk, poking it on the  _ off chance _ she got to hear about some of what Eleanor teased her about.

"Yeah. The appeal of traveling is definitely not lost on me, and I've barely seen anything." She shifted her grip around Anala's waist a little, "That whole fight was crazy. Restraint is….difficult. I'm not built for it. But the looks on their faces? Worth the struggle." She laughed a little, normally she would have gotten pissed at the reactions to her Tiefling nature. Being called 'devil'. But leaning into it and being what they were thinking she was all along, it was kind of thrilling, "Hopefully they keep giving us a wide berth." Evie's face flushed ever so slightly at the question about her sister's teasing, "I mean we've been together almost non-stop for eighteen years. She sometimes knows me better than I know myself and that includes  _ ple _ nty of teasing fuel. I also can't mask my emotions as well as she can and I think it's one of her favorite things to see me crack." She let out a small laugh, "She's such a shithead but I love her. I know how incredibly lucky I am that she and I are still together. Even through all our training. They would have broken me a long time ago if we hadn't been." 

They'd seen some roads and soon to be a swamp. Not the most typical pretty travel location but it had its own charm. "You seemed pretty in-control. Could have fooled me." Evie had handled the fight wonderfully despite taking the most lasting hurt. She'd picked up when Anala couldn't speak and Eleanor had been grappled. "I'm sure it does." Anala's voice came with the sort of mischievous tone that screamed 'I'm going to exploit that if I can'. The conversation turned so soft after she started talking all about her sister though, it was so sweet. She'd hate to press into it any more. Later maybe. “We manage to get pretty lucky with who we find, don’t we?”

"Fights are a different story, usually. It’s easier to be in control when your life is on the line. Even more so when there’s people you care about that you have to watch out for.” She wanted to make a comment about the fact that that was one of the first fights Evie had ever had where keeping their opponents alive was the goal and that  _ that  _ had been where Evie’s struggled had been, but she felt a bit ashamed at the fact that her first instinct had been to just...wipe them out. It made her feel like a monster. More remnants from her Volstrucker training. More things she was trying to unlearn. Evie gave her head a little shake trying to push those thoughts away, and settled her chin on Anala’s shoulder again. A small smile crossed her face at Anala’s last question, thinking a moment about everything that had happened the last few months, how full Evie’s life had become so with people she cared about, “We do. It’s funny how it happens too. It’s always in the most unlikely of ways. Do you,” She paused a moment trying to remember the conversation they had had properly, “Do you remember one of the first conversations we had? The whole talk about fate? I never believed in any of that kind of stuff before. But I just,” she let out a small huff trying to work out what she was trying to say, “The more that I look back; Tenen, Leo, Elbridge, Col, Elarel, Farren, Jo, You….even Ellyn coming back into our lives. All of it starting  _ right _ as everything had gone so incredibly wrong? The failed mission in Xorhas. I just….I can’t chalk that up to coincidence. Not at this point.” A small small laugh escaped her, “Especially with the circumstances that led to my sister and I finally meeting you and now, this mission? What are the  _ chances, _ you know?” They were all things she was incredibly grateful for, even if all of it made her life incredibly complicated. It was a good kind of complicated she didn't want to stop.

“A little bit of fate can be good for the soul.” Fate and faith but the other could be infinitely more complicated to figure out. She had her own lucky group. Zy, Yoshik, Farren, Tenen and Arius. Now Eleanor and Evie, and the group they’d accumulated. “The amount of luck it took for some of our people to even come to the Academy in the first place. Let alone meet us. In my case travel and form just the right  _ ridiculous _ dynamic to do the stupid shit we do.” The stupid shit that lead them to want them to go against the Empire, though that part went unsaid. They were so  _ incredibly _ lucky to have their people. It made her heart warm thinking about it. “We’re going to have to pretend to hate each other again when we get back.” Anala couldn’t help but laugh a little. She’d never been closer to the two of them, she felt fantastic with her around, and she was sure they could never hate each other like the Assembly wanted them to. “Maybe they’ll send us on more together?” They could hope. If fate was on their side once again.

"It's been good for mine, that's for sure. I just….my group has a lot of work to do. And the Assembly makes sure to make it difficult." She let out a small frustrated sigh, "I'm sure it'll work out. It has to." Truthfully Evie was worried, between Elbridge's latest transformation, not being able to get a meeting together so the others could meet Jo, and Leo's constant stressing and worrying. She had to get things set so everyone really believed in what they were doing and she stopped feeling like the only one keeping their escape at the forefront of her mind, "I hope my group can eventually get to that point. I'm sure we will, it's just a bit harder for us. Because of the Assembly and the fact we're all...you know." She fell quiet for a moment, " I'm really not looking forward to pretending to hate you again. Maybe this mission can go so well that we don't have to exactly  _ hate _ each other any more? Just like...I don’t know. Garner a mutual respect or something, maybe they’d be more inclined to send us out if we prove we work well together. That’s how me and my sister ended up doing so much together." She let out a small laugh, "Nine hells, I fucking hate them all so much. Da’leth. Ikithon. The Assembly. Even the King for letting them get to this point. I just….I grew up  _ right there  _ in the middle of all of it and was so blind to it, but now that I’m smart to it, it's all so blindingly clear how awful they are.” she could feel herself getting angry, which wasn’t what she needed right now. She closed her eyes, taking a few breaths trying to calm herself down. If she kept this up the ringing would start up and with them getting closer to Labenda that was something she  _ definitely _ didn’t want to deal with right now, “Sorry. This is not a great road conversation.”

Anala’s hand left the reins to grip Evie’s arm around her waist, giving her a brief squeeze as worry seeped into the conversation. “I like that, the mutual respect angle. Just know that whatever you do or say in front of them, I won’t hold it against you. Not a word of it. That and anything I say or do isn’t  _ really _ genuine.” It felt like a point they already knew, but it made Anala feel better to say it and she hoped it did something for Evie. Or that maybe she’d indulge her on this a little. It still wasn’t fantastic, but it was better than being unsure in that situation. “Not really.” She agreed, keeping her voice light and soft. “But I still kind of… want to? Because you’re right. It’s so hard to see it until it’s painfully obvious. Not easy learning the government, our leaders, are just a bunch of malicious fuckheads.” She stated quite plainly, trying not to sink into the more violent and enraging thoughts. Those were for later.

She appreciated the reassurance about the things they might have to say to each other to keep up the facade. “Absolutely, it's all just words, to keep up a mask.” Evie smiled a little, giving Anala a little squeeze. It was weird how well she understood Evie, it always felt like she had to walk on eggshell with the others, but not with Anala. “Maybe save that conversation for a good bottle of whiskey or wine or something when we’re not in the middle of a mission for one of the said fuckheads.” 

They'd figure out sitting down like that sometime. One day, they'd have a talk about all this bullshit without complications. Then talk about good things too, because they deserved that. "Wine, whiskey, pistachios. I like pistachios." Especially for heavy conversations that wouldn't be poorly impacted by her peeling pistachios. They gave her something to do with her hands without taking her away from the talk. It was a good system. That and she liked pistachios. "The offer is always open, good time or not." Evie had a lot she was balancing, she wouldn't mind if she needed to take a break and rant about it. Anala liked their talks, good or bad.

Evie smiled earnestly, hells Anala was adorable. “Pistachios. Lots of them. I haven’t had those since I was a kid. It’d be nice to just...be able to talk about it you know? We can get drunk, scream about how shitty the Empire is, then, I don’t know, talk about better things? Maybe you can tell me some stories about the shit you all get up to. You and Tenen allude to so much without any follow up and it's just like I  _ need _ to know.” she laughed, not sure if it was selfish how badly she wanted more one on one time with Anala. No matter what they talked about it was always refreshing and Evie liked that a lot. She felt the tips of her ears growing a bit warm so she pulled her hood up, letting out another small laugh.

Aala gave a happy agreeable hum. "At one point, probably separate from being super drunk, I should summon a rage room in a tower for us. Tough wall and stacks of ceramic and other smash-ables." She'd only done it a handful of times, but it had been an absolute riot with her and her group when they'd been in the mood for it. "It's fucking great." She laughed, trying to think of something now that she could tell Evie later. "Yeah... I like that idea."

Evie’s eyes went wide, “That sounds fucking amazing.” the fact that was even a thing was news to Evie. The fact that these towers had so much  _ potential,  _ no wonder everyone loved it so much. “When this is all said and done then, we’ll figure it out.” Evie smiled. There was a lot that needed to be done when she got back but this was definitely something she’d make time for. 


	11. Into the Swamp

They rode on the last legs of their journey, the swamp greeting them with dark trees and slush under hooves. They started to need to duck their heads under the low hanging branches, slowing the horses. Without a word exchanged, they asked Evie to send Kore ahead.

Evie nodded, understanding as she locked her arms tighter around Anala’s waist, doing her best to position herself so she wouldn’t fall off if something happened. Kore flew above them as Evie’s eyes glazed over and shone a burning amber. Then she was above the trees, flying through a cloudless sky and scanning the area for any sign of buildings or movement. At one point Kore came across a small township, nothing too important or of interest at the time so she pressed on. After a few more minutes she didn’t see much so she had Kore return back their way. She blinked as she returned to her own sight. She kept her voice low, barely a whisper “There’s a township a bit north east of us. Maybe try there first?” 

  
Anala’s attention was split between the way ahead and the grip Evie had on her waist, making sure to notice if it started to slip. It was some time before she heard from Evie again. “Good thinking.” She signaled to Eleanor and adjusted their path. “Keep an eye out for us, won’t you love?”

Evie smiled with a nod as she tightened her grip and leaned in again, eyes glowing. She kept Kore a bit closer this time just in case, keeping an eye out for more immediate danger. 

Eleanor was looking around a little nervously as they rode, not overly excited about riding through the swamp. “A township? Sounds miserable, but that’s at least a start.” She was so damn tired of this mission, and less than excited about whatever they might find, but… Such was the life, apparently. “Do we know what exactly we’re looking for, or is it just weird cult shit?”

“Weird cult shit, bandit-like activity, any stuff that looks like we shouldn’t be seeing?” Anything that wasn’t more swamp was their business. They’d run into something eventually, if not, they’d fudge something to bring back to the Assembly and call the mission concluded. 

“Makes sense.” Eleanor huffed softly, glancing around. Gods, she already hated this swamp shit. “What counts as bandit-y?” She tilted her head, looking at the path up ahead. “Blocked paths count, right? Because that’s suspicious as fuck.”

Blocked paths definitely felt like something bandit-y. Anala slowed the horse and cast a quick look around, before moving her attention to the sky to try and find Kore, to check that Evie was seeing them. “Fallen trees and brambles could happen anywhere but… we should be careful. I want to follow it. Could be something we’re looking for.” As long as they were careful and kept their pace slow.

“Alright, we can follow it. But I’d say we ought to give Evie a shake, let her know to scout ahead. Make sure we’re not going to run into any surprises.” Eleanor rode a little closer, frowning. “Think we should do this on foot or horseback?”

“On foot.” Evie slid off the horse as Kore flew back to her, and walked a little ahead of the other two. “There’s some weird shit up ahead. It’s like...funneling into a clearing of sorts. Kind of looks like a trap and we’re not far from it.” She looked between Anala and Eleanor, “I know it doesn't need to be said but we need to be careful.”

Anala was just about to nudge Evie to get her attention, but like she’d heard them, she was already back. She watched her slide off the horse, having a hawk fly out of the air to her with perfect timing, Gods she was cool. “Is there another path we can take to come from a direction they’re not expecting?” Anala was trying to push down the excitement, feeling it wasn’t quite appropriate with the mood. She got off the horse and tossed the reins around a branch to tie it off here.

Evie looked around ahead of them a bit and then circled back to Anala and Eleanor. She shook her head “Not that I could see. It’s like there was a path made to keep whoever is traveling right to where whoever made it wanted them to go. My bet it was these cultists. Why I’m not entirely sure but if they’re summoning something….I can think of a few reasons. I _do_ have an idea though.” 

“Alright, sounds like a funnel. Let’s get going, I suppose.” Eleanor dismounted, patting herself down for a moment to make sure she had everything she needed. “I mean, if they need sacrifices, makes sense to trap people.” She stretched, looking over at the other two. “Let’s go check things out, hopefully not get into too big of a mess.”

Anala made sure the horses were secure before joining the twins' sides. Hopefully not too big of a mess, hopefully a big enough mess to make the long journey to a swamp worthwhile. “What were you thinking?” She asked Evie in case there was something more, maybe something she’d seen.

“Well, if we keep going as we are we’re basically going to walk in where they _absolutely_ have the advantage. Which I’m not a huge fan of. _But_ what if we polymorphed into something, get in there, check out the scene and see what’s there. Maybe get the jump on them instead? I’ve got it today if neither of you do.” Evie walked over to one of the horses and transferred Kore onto it, giving her a quick scratching on the back of her neck, “What do you guys think? Maybe a crocodile or something? Those are native to swamps.” she looked to the others for their thoughts. 

“I mean, a crocodile is possible, but… I dunno. A bit unwieldy, wouldn’t you think? Especially for scouting. I’d argue that a bird of some kind could be a little more useful.” Eleanor glanced over to her sister and Anala, eyebrows raised. “But. That could be a good idea. Another idea is two people on defense, one person who walks into the trap on purpose to lure people out.”

Anala threaded her fingers together and stretched her arms out in front of her. “I’ve got polymorph.” Those were both good ideas. But the thought of sending anyone of them out as bait didn’t sit well with her. “Polymorph will help us stay low to scout out the place in case we end up down a different route, and it will keep us safer. We could do both? Crocodiles and birds? Some mix of the two?” The bird could keep an eye on their surroundings and sing out a warning, the crocodiles could handle a fight.

Evie nodded, “I don’t like the idea of one of us just walking in like live bait. Too risky. At least with polymorph we’re a little more resilient. Maybe giant crocs? That’s what I’m going to go with, I think. I don’t think a few of those would be entirely unheard of here. I think it’d be kinda cool too.” Evie said with a shrug, if they were going to risk their lives might as well make it a little fun, “Having at least one of us go as a bird isn’t a bad idea. Owl or hawk probably? We might want to get away from the horses and Kore though. Last thing we need is them spooking and alerting whoever is out there that we’re here.” 

“Alright, so. I’d be happy to be a bird, if that helps. Scout things out, sing something if I spot any danger. Nothing too exciting, but… Something decent, at least.” Eleanor ran through the list in her head, humming. “I have polymorph ready today, plus some other offensive spells. So I think that’s a good start, if nothing else. Do we want to strategize past ‘scout and see’ or are we gonna just do our best and see what happens? Try to avoid engaging, get a look, and leave?”

“I’m not sure how much we can plan without more information, you know?” Take a small risk, then back off and reevaluate. They could use some way of communicating from bird to crocodile. “Short call for a warning that there’s other people, long call for ‘oh fuck get out of there’?” 

Evie’s mind was working fast, running through the different scenarios they may come across once they get in there, “We just have to keep in mind our time limit. I don’t want to have to cast this more than once if we end up getting into a fight or something. I didn’t see much in the clearing with Kore but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something tucked away or hidden with magic. We just...all need to be _very_ careful, but ready for anything These guys are fucking with Betrayer Gods. That’s always pretty nasty stuff from what I’ve read.” she took a breath trying to calm her nerves, “El, you fly ahead just a bit, scout low but close enough that we can still hear you. We’ll follow not far behind but make it look like we’re simply meandering, maybe hunting? It’ll look less suspicious that way and make more sense why we stumbled into the clearing.” she looked at her companions for confirmation that this was as good a plan as they were going to get with what they had.

“Good enough for me. And yeah, that sounds like a good way to handle it.” Eleanor listened, shifting on her feet as she ran through a list of animals in her head. “Sounds perfect. I’ll go a little ahead, and call if I see anything.” Stretching for a moment, she pulled out a small cocoon, then murmured to herself. With a little grin, she shifted, chirping when she became a bright red hawk. She hopped a few times, head tilted, then took off into the sky.

Anala put her hand to her chest, finding where her amulet was hidden without needing to search. “Are you ready?” She turned to Evie with a confident smile, then cast the spell. Transforming immediately, she took on the form of an unnaturally large, blue and hazel eyed crocodile and swerved off into the swamp.

Evie nodded, grabbing her own focus as she cast her spell. It was a strange feeling but she tilted her large crocodilian head upward, trying to find the bird with her good eye. She looked towards Anala and began following down the funneled path. 

Eleanor had to admit that flying was _amazing._ Felt so good. _Amazing._ Wait, she’d already used that word. Right? Right. _Wait._ She had to look. Find people. See people. Glancing around, she spotted the big lizards--crocodiles--friends! Good! Yes. But normal people. Gotta see them. _Right._ Flying along, she kept her eyes out for weird people. Creepy people. Not-friends.

Evie continued lumbering forward, her foot eventually sinking into the ground. Water. Squish. Swim? Swim to find things. She sunk into the water. Cold, keep moving. Cold. Sleep. Cold means sleep till warm. No. No rest. Hunt? Hunt. Find. Continuing through the swampy water she tried her best not to get distracted by the smells and movements all around her. Focus. Find Trap. Trick two legged creatures. Get home. Home then sleep? Yes. Plan. Swim. Swim sneaky. After a time they made it to a large opening she slowed, sensing movement. Slowly she turned her body to see if she could make out what was going on. She turned a bit, purposefully bumping into Anala to see if she was picking up the movements and smells too. 

Anala’s crocodile form sifted through the swamp water with her snout, finding the more watery path and wiggling her way along. Sneaky. Quiet. Swamp...not gross. Swamp was okay. She got distracted by the new idea that swamp was okay, but then something bumped her side. Jaws hinging open, her head snapped to the side. _Fight._ Friend… Friend fight! Then her head whipped back to the way ahead, sinking low. Lower, The other presence came to her attention. Focus. Silent. The crocodile swam forward, inching closer to get a better picture.

When Eleanor spotted some two-legged people, she had to think for a second. What should she do then? Uh... Yell. People! Short yell for people! So she let out a cry, short and sharp, turning circles.

Evie heard the scream. Scream means people. People mean trap? Probably trap?. She looked around. No way out. Her feet drug across the bottom of the swampy bed. There were things littering the bottom, some long, some round. Some crunching under her massive feet. She dunked under scooping up some and throwing them above the water. Bones. They were bones. Trap. DEFINITELY trap. Movement in water. Sink. Stalk. Ambush. She sunk beneath the water swimming over to where she felt the movement. Waiting. Waiting for snap. Bite. Hunt. 

Anala stayed back for her friend’s digging. Protect. _Bones?_ Snacks? No. No hurting two-legged clever ones. Not too bad. Not as snacks. Just nibble. Anala slithered through the swamp, rounding the noises, pinning down the location. Just nibble. Mainly scare. Scare. Anala came crawling from the water at lightning speed with a hissing roar, jaw wide and baring every tooth.

Voices rang out as the crocodiles approached, “We got big ones! Two of ‘em! Watch it.” several humanoids stood at the shore of the swamp bed that Anala and Evie were swimming through. Some were armed with spears, others were quickly loading up their crossbows, running along the shore and surrounding them, “Lead 'em in! Lead ‘em in! Good meal for the big guy!” More voices called out as they tried to corral the large crocodiles towards what looked like some sort of opening. 

Evie let out a low grumble as the red haired two-leg came near. She caught her scent. Familiar. Friend. Sister! Sister two-leg. She felt the other two-legs grow still. Could chomp. East pray. But told no. No chomp. Go back. Evie tilted her massive head a moment before it clicked and she morphed back into herself.

"Well that was certainly interesting." She knelt down and rummaged through one of the humanoids robes, finding an amulet, "Something to bring back to prove we've been here?" She pocketed it and looked up at Anala. evie didn't realize how  _ massive  _ they had been. It was really fucking cool. She walked over to where her sister and Anala-croc was, "You make a cute as hell giant crocodile Anala but they're dumb as rocks. Care to join us intelligent beings again?" She patted her scaly leg trying to get her attention.

Friend was coming over. Hello friend. Oh. The two-legged mean one under her stopped wiggling. Anala shuffled off of the mean one, sniffing. A breath of hot air expelled from the massive reptile lungs. The cultist stayed unconscious. There were two two-legged friends now. The crocodile’s head spun to them, jaws wide in a very toothy grin. The grin slowly fell as she stared at the two, trying to comprehend the jabber noise… OH. 

Anala dropped the form, back on her feet and found her footing on muddy ground that had been much easier to traverse as a giant reptile. “ _ Hey _ .” She greeted, a chuckle bleeding into the word. “Everyone feeling okay?”

Eleanor laughed a little as Evie and Anala reverted to their original forms, amused. “I’m doing well, actually. But also, birds are fucking  _ idiots.  _ I managed to keep on task, but gods, I was dumb as a brick. I’m assuming it was about the same for you?” She looked around, spotting the symbol Evie had in her hands. “I think that’d make him happy, if nothing else.”   
  
“Guess bird brain comes from actual fact huh?” she laughed, “It was interesting that’s for sure. Really cool, but I’m happy to be myself again.” she held out her hands and flexed her fingers, “So they succeeded in something here, I heard that right? Right? They wanted to  _ feed  _ us to something? That doesn’t bode well.” She looked over to the opening that the cultists had tried to corral them into.

Anala checked her hands, rubbing the pads of her thumbs over where bits of dirt and muck had found their way to her fingers. “No chance they have a really big but totally tame puppy dog they’re keeping in there?” But no, they’d been far too confident in their pet’s ability to handle two giant crocodiles. “At the very least, it can’t or won’t hunt for itself can be a good sign for us.” 

“I’m willing to guess it’s not a cute puppy, no.” El laughed a little, cracking her knuckles. “So… Sounds pretty dodgy, I’d say. It might be that it’s too big to come hunt, or they need some sort of sacrifices. Which could mean all kinds of things, like it being on another plane, or needing to be summoned somehow.”   
  
Evie’s eye didn’t leave the entrance that stood before them, “I mean, there’s only one way to really find out. And we should probably do it before these guys wake up. At least get in, see what’s there and get out? Take it out if we can. That’d make Da’leth happy I’m sure. Maybe keep him off our backs for awhile?” she put a hand to her chest, an amber light briefly surrounding her as she cast her mage armor, “Eleanor. Armor, don’t forget.” She started her way towards the opening slowly. 

Anala looked toward the entrance. “None of us need light do we?”  _ Brilliant _ . That was one problem taken care of easily. “Try to be quiet? Only speak through message. We’ve got this.” They’d need to keep their wits about them, stick together, but they’d be alright. Anala followed Evie, conscious of each foot fall already.

“Sleep only lasts a little while,” Eleanor said softly. “Let’s get going. We can speak with message, and none of us need light. So I think we can do it.” She tapped her chest, an acid green light flaring for a moment. “Thanks Evie.” Then she followed the others, more than a little nervous.

Evie nodded to the others, stepping into the darkness


	12. Looking for Trouble

It was soggy and cold and smelled of damp, decaying earth. Evie couldn’t wait to get out of this swamp. It took a few minutes for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. As she walked she checked the floor and walls for anything to give them ideas of what they were walking into. She stopped a moment, realizing it was quiet. Almost _too_ quiet. **Do you guys hear that?** she sent to the other two.  
  
Anala stretched and curled her fingers, running through her list of spells in her head as they wandered further into the tunnel. She raised her amulet to her lips, whispering a word and extending her internal magic outward to check for anything especially out of the ordinary. The only things flaring up so far were items in their possession. Anala looked to Evie as she heard the question in her mind, shaking her head. Then she stilled, straining to hear something.

Eleanor was looking around, frowning a little at the sheer amount of silence around them. **I have invisibility today. I could scout ahead?** She glanced between the others, teeth gritting. There was a tension in the air that was making her want to run--she just wasn’t sure in which direction.

Evie looked to her sister, then to Anala **I don’t know if we should be splitting up. Especially with how eerily silent it is. Plus we don’t know anything about this place.** Scouting wouldn’t be a bad idea but it was dark and they had no idea what was waiting for them in here.

Anala shook her head to Eleanor. **We’re safer together** . There were too few of them already, they needed to take care of each other. **Can Kore see in the dark?**

**Fair. Fine. And I dunno if a bird can, but Ash can at least smell in the dark pretty well? I dunno about her sight, but. Yeah. Unless you can cast the night vision spell on a familiar?** Eleanor tilted her head, considering. **Or I guess on the hawk. Either way.**

Evie put a hand on her sister’s arm, **Darkvision. I have that. We could send one each way? Cover the most ground? It would at least give us an idea of what’s going on down there.** She looked to Anala for her opinion.

**I’ll keep an eye out here. I’ll tap your shoulder if you need to come back, I can dimension door us out real quick but it will take two trips. Take care.**

Eleanor nodded a little. **Sounds good. I’ll send Ash ahead if you want to send Kore behind.** With a wave of her hand, the many-toed cat appeared, walking uncertainly until she bumped against Evie’s leg. Evie focused and brought Kore to her. She knelt down and took a moment to cast darkvision on both animals. Kore immediately took off down the corridor. She reached over to Anala and gave her shoulder a little squeeze, **First sign of anything wrong here, bring us back.** Evie held her gaze a moment, took a breath, and braced herself against the wall, eyes glowing amber. 

Anala angled herself to keep the two of them in sight, watching each end of the tunnel. Her attention passed solely to Evie as she felt the squeeze to her shoulder, and she gave a smile. **I’ve got you.** She squeezed her hand before it could drop from her shoulder, then turned back to watching as much of the space as she could.

 **We should be fine, but grab us if something happens..** Eleanor nodded, leaning against the wall as she settled against the wall, the acid-green light emanating from her eyes as she started to see through Ash’s eyes.

Kore made her way through the corridor splitting off to the left at a fork. She hoped that Ash would see and go the other direction. She flew, silently for a bit longer before seeing a light. Kore landed on the ground, hopping along and looking into the room that was the source of light. Through the hawk's darkvision she saw...something. It’s hulking form was coiled up in the shadows and some sort of humanoid nearby looking incredibly bored but casting glances at it. The room itself looked carved out, done with purpose and precision. Indecipherable symbols were painted along the stone walls that Evie didn’t recognize. The humanoid stood slowly, eyeing the creature as it heaved a breath in its slumber. He was nervous but squared his shoulders and started walking towards the door. Evie snapped her sight back to herself, dismissing Kore to keep anything from happening to her familiar. Her hand shot out and grabbing Anala’s arm, “Fuck.” she covered her mouth with her other hand, realizing she said it out loud, **Anala. Whatever it is, it’s** **_BIG_ ** **. But there’s only one guy with it.** She uncovered her mouth and shook her sister, sending her the same message as soon as her eyes stopped glowing. 

Anala’s head snapped to Evie. Resisting the urge to react just as quick, she made herself move painfully slow to cover the hand on her arm. **Ok. Focus on the big thing. What have we got? Too big to dimension door into a trap?** She went straight into strategizing, wanting them to stay grounded and focused.

Eleanor gasped when Evie grabbed her, instantly returning to her body. **Fuck. Okay. If it’s that big, probably too big to dimension door. We’d need to do something to it in its own space, or lure it out.** She looked around, frowning a little as she swore to herself silently. Not what she’d wanted at all.  
  
Evie shook her head, **Way too big. And the room. It’s massive, bigger than the mess hall. And the halls leading to it….I don’t know how they’re planning on getting that thing out of here unless there’s a back way. It’s bigger than anything I’ve seen before.** Usually Evie could go into just about anything with confidence, but this _thing_ she had no idea what it was and that terrified her. **But it is in a single room with one guard. Maybe if we get in there, hit it hard we can take it out?** Her hands did not leave either of her companions, she needed the contact right now. **Also if we can take ten minutes, I want to cast Rary’s Telepathic Bond. That way we can all communicate easier.**

**Good thinking. We’ll make time, we can sort it out.** Anala squeezed Evie’s hand and didn’t let go. **Any enchantment level spells? A banishment?** She continued speaking softly, trying to make the pretend-calm pass onto the others in a way that hopefully wasn’t as forced.

Eleanor took a deep breath, eyes squeezing shut for a moment. **We can give it a shot. I have banishment ready today, and passwall. Think those’d help?** She looked around again, squeezing her sister’s hand gently. **Could be good. Or at least a start.** **  
**

Evie took a breath and began to ritual cast the spell. After she was done she looked between the two and nodded _,_ **Okay this is much better. Lets go.** She took a breath and nodded, **Follow me.** She gave both their hands a squeeze and made her way slowly down the corridor.

 **Banishment is fucking brilliant, Eleanor.** Anala gave her an encouraging smile. If the Assembly intel paid off, assuming this had to be the thing they were here for, then this was a beast from another plane. Eleanor had exactly what they needed. Anala nodded to Evie and silently followed once again.

El grinned. **I think we can try. Hopefully it goes well.** She followed the other two, that nervousness still building inside of her. Gods, part of her wanted to run, but… No. Mission. She could handle this. She _had_ to. Her breath came out in a little huff, but she kept following. **How far down was that thing?**

Evie pointed down the corridor once they turned left and pointed forward at the small amount of light streaming from the room. **In there. Like** ** _right_** **in there.** **  
** **  
**Anala nodded and put her back against the wall, casting a glance up and down the hall. She didn’t want to spend too much time letting them over think themselves into oblivion, but she couldn’t bring her feet to carry herself into the next room yet. **If you know what kind of creature it might be, I can cast a protection spell on one of us.** It had come in clutch in the past. Now they were relying on Eleanor’s banishment, it might be a good idea.

 **I honestly have no idea it was...bug..snake...thing? I only saw its body and even then only a little bit of it. If anyone gets that spell it should probably be Eleanor, if she’s going to try to banish it.** Evie clenched her fists, nails digging into her palms as she tried to stay calm. She didn’t like how little they knew. Too many things could go wrong but they were here. They needed to at least try. 

**Good point. I need to go take a look, stay hidden but close, we’ll try to come back here without being seen.** Anala got lower to the ground, taking her time with each step and slowly, creeping towards the entrance of the room where the light shone. Then she saw the room. It was fascinating in its own incredibly creepy way. Making sure the man in there wasn’t turned towards her, Anala stepped out a little more. Her eyes tracing along the walls and symbols, the possible exits, avoiding looking at the creature until she was confident she hadn’t missed anything important. Then the creature itself. It was gigantic and she could only imagine more of it was hidden. She had to bite down on her tongue, eyes growing wide and staring, unblinking. It was old. Ancient maybe. Definitely not of this world but… she needed more than its sleeping visage to pick it. She dropped back, moving back along the corridor to a spot slightly more comfortable. **Aberration or Fiend is my best guess. If it wakes up and becomes a problem I’ll figure it out quick.**

Eleanor leaned against the wall, a little anxious as she waited for Anala to come back. When she heard Anala’s voice, she frowned more, worried. **Fuck, sounds bad. Should we come up? I think I can figure something out for banishment, and… I mean, the sooner we handle it, the better, right?** She glanced to Evie, eyebrows up, as she sent a message only to her sister. **Fuck, this isn’t great, huh?**

 **No it’s not.** She didn’t look at her sister, her eyes were down the hallway trying to keep sight of Anala. Evie didn’t like any of this. **We need to get rid of that guard first I think or at least keep him from doing anything just in case he’s the one controlling this thing. That’s the only reason I can think that he’s able to be that close without this thing completely taking him out. I have a few things I can use to keep the guard busy? Or I can use chain lightning and hit both? Get the thing focused, so El has a better chance of success with Banishment? We’re aiming to get rid of this thing right?**

 **Head in the game, babe. Anala** responded quickly to Eleanor’s message. **Don’t hurt the big monster unless it attacks, we don’t want to anger it if we can avoid it. Banishment is the way to go. Evie, I want to help you with the guard unless the monster becomes an issue. We’ll knock him out as quickly as possible…** Anala’s voice trailed off as her mind flicked through her options for spells, trying to figure out how she’d go about this.

 **I have an idea. I’m going to disguise myself as one of the cultists we took down, try to draw that guy out of there so you and I, Anala, can knock him out while El...you go invisible and get into the den without him seeing to banish that thing.** Evie could feel the adrenaline starting to course through her, slowly edging out the nerves. It was risky but might just work. 

**Sounds like a plan. Should I just wait a minute or do you want to give me a signal?** El was glad she had prepared invisibility today--good for sneaking around, and apparently great for banishing gigantic horrifying monsters. **Did you want to cast the spell to give me some protection against it, Anala, or are we just gonna go for it? I don’t want to mess up your concentration if you need it for the distraction part of the plan.**

Anala waited, holding her breath, staring at the entrance to the room. Yeah. Yeah, that was good, they could do that. She backed up to where Evie was. **We can let you know when we have him. We’ll be nearby, I need to know what I’m protecting you against to cast it. I’ll do that as soon as I can.**

Evie nodded, focusing a moment trying to remember the features of one of the cultists, focusing on making the visage look disheveled. She took a breath looking between Eleanor and Anala, **Here’s to hoping this works.** **El. Go invisible. Anala get ready.** She backed away from the door a little to give her a little room to run and took off grabbing the sides of the doorway, and looking into the room with wild eyes, “Sir, big problem. Outside. Come now.” 

Eleanor nodded, casting invisibility on herself. As soon as Evie disguised herself and ran, she started forward, trying to slip past enough that she could get eyes on the creature. It… Holy shit, it was _massive_. Fuck that. But she also needed to wait until Evie and Anala cleared the space. In the meantime, she grabbed for her components pouch, considering. What the fuck might repel this thing? Smelling salts? Phosphorous? Gods, maybe she _did_ need an arcane focus.

The man assigned to watch the monstrous creature looked to the newly arrived guard. Eye twitching. "What have you done?" He stayed in place, bringing his fingers down to the components at his side. Looking to the sleeping monster, a long string of quiet, hiss-like noises left his lips. His head snapped back to the disguised tiefling. "Show me where." He began to walk towards her.

Evie beckoned him to follow, not trusting her voice too much. Turning she stumbled into the hall, feigning an injury. She met eyes with Anala as the man followed her into the corridor.

Anala pressed her back up against the wall of the tunnel. Breathed in, closed her eyes, breathed out. Taking her amulet down from around her neck, she pressed the pendant into her palm and wrapped the chain around her hand, enough times to keep it there. She looked up, meeting eyes with Evie’s disguised self in the dark, the man without darkvision following behind her with a hand along the wall. 

Then the man held out his palm, flexing his fingers and casting light.

Anala waved her hand and a large, translucent hand came through the wall beside the man, crashing into him and attempting to grapple. By some miracle he spun free.

Evie watched as the human evaded the spectral hand. Not good. “Slippery little shit.” she said to him dropping her disguise and casting Hold Person. He froze in his tracks, paralyzed. She stood there holding the spell. **Eleanor NOW.**

 **Fuck, alright.** Eleanor took a deep breath, then let the invisibility drop as she cast banishment on the massive creature. _Please wor_ _k,_ she prayed, although not to anyone in particular. Gods, she just wanted this to be useful. Anything to make things just a little less heart-stoppingly terrifying. After a moment of holding her breath, focused entirely on the creature, it disappeared with a tiny ‘pop.’ She finally huffed out a breath, almost doubling over with relief.

Anala breathed in deep through her nose, psyching herself up as she watched the man collapse, paralysed. This wasn’t going to feel good, mostly for him. “Yeah, sorry buddy, we need something a little more secure than a temp hold.” She kept her voice quiet, bouncing on her toes a little and bringing her hand down. The translucent fist followed, slamming down into him. Then again. She pulled back to see how the guy was coping.

Evie watched as the cultist's eyes darted frantically around trying to see something. Momentarily she felt guilt. This guy was defenseless right now, just like the kid on her last mission, but he also summoned….whatever that thing was in an attempt to destroy the Empire. And while that didn't exactly sound like the worst thing in all of Exandria, she didn't want anyone back home getting hurt. She took a breath clutching her construct focus with one hand and reaching out with the other. There was a slight amber glow as she found a decent sized boulder and pulled it towards him. It connected with a deafening crack that echoed down the corridor. Her eyes shot to the doorway, the inside was out of her sight but she didn't hear any horrific noises so maybe Eleanor was successful.

Eleanor could feel herself shaking as she stood in the room where the massive creature had once been, jaw clenching as she focused on keeping the creature banished. Once she reached a minute, it’d stay wherever the fuck it’d come from. That was all. The internal countdown was all that was keeping her together. 

The man was beaten, and broken, by invaders who had done something to his friend and hadn’t let him get a single hit in. He was furious. He’d tear the tunnel down around him where these people stood if it wasn’t for his number one priority being in that room behind him. His only priority. With a roar he shook free of the hold. Getting a foot in under himself. Then another. He surged forwards, away from the attackers, to the room to wake his pet… It wasn’t here. But there was someone. _Her_. The leader growled out an abyssal incantation, slamming down sulfur powder into his hand. A brilliant column of flame erupted in the room, centred on the tiefling. The explosion was deafening, shaking through the underground cave system and alerting anyone who might be nearby.

Anala swore as the cultist got free, bigby’s hand snatching out to scrape at the back of his coat. She sprinted after him, the hand following close behind but too late.

The sound hit Evie like a brick wall, her eyes went wide as her ears started ringing, pulse quickening to what felt like an impossible speed. She stumbled, catching herself on the wall a moment, breath hitching in her throat. Panic rose in her, telling her to run, but she knew her sister was in there, and Anala. With an angry scream she booted towards the room, looking for the cutlist as she body slammed him, trying to pin him down and keep him from hurting El to Anala. It's all she could think to do through the panic. As soon as she made contact she knew it wasn't going to be enough, but that was the least of her problems as something moved in the peripheral of her good eye. Evie turned slowly the creature coming into her full view. It was back, and it was even bigger then she had imagined. 


	13. Trouble Found

The returned monster unfurled, raising up to its full height, consuming the cave that had been carved out for it. Eyeless, it recognised them. Its giant, four way split head turning down towards them. Jagged teeth in a circular formation loomed down over them, thin, pale tentacles lashing out from the hole in its face that supposedly got called a mouth. The cultist man, weak and trembling, reached out to the beast. It roared. A death rattle like metal on metal. Tentacles retracting back only for a stream of acid to spew forth. Covering all four of them in corrosive, green blackened sludge. Singeing the ground, sizzling through their clothes to skin. The cultist man consumed entirely. Letting out a last, weakened cough. He stopped moving entirely. 

Eleanor stared up at the massive creature as it reappeared, breath starting to quicken as she panicked. But then, before she could run or leave, there was a stream of acid slamming into her, and she was shouting out swears in Infernal as it bit into her skin. She could feel herself stumbling and struggling, trying to figure out any sort of spell she could cast as her skin burnt. She grabbed some phosphorus from her bag, muttering as she summoned a wall of fire wrapping in a U-shape around the creature.

Anala threw up her arms to cover her face as the acid rained down upon them. Aberration, definitely an aberration. She was moving before the stream of acid had fully settled, pushing through the muck and shaking it from her hands. The spectral hand flew through the air, slamming into the monster and fizzling out. Anala's hand, amulet in palm, slammed down on Eleanor's shoulder. A flash of silver wrapping protectively around the tiefling. Anala's voice echoed through her head.  **Please tell me you have another banishment in you.**

Evie watched as the acid spray hit her sister and Anala. She did her best to dodge it, only managing to get the very edge of the spray. Wincing she tried to wipe it off, turning her focus on the beast before her. It was time to distract this thing, buy some time while the others figured out their next step. She closed her eyes, whispering an incantation in draconic as electricity sparked on her fingertips. Opening her eyes she sent to bolt forward, hitting it dead on as the smell of burning flesh filled the room,  **What’s the plan? Are you two okay?** She kept her eyes locked on the creature, trying to figure out anything about it that would help, now that El's fire lit up the room.

The creature slunk away from the wall of fire. With no immediate access to it's attackers, it reached out psychically, slashing through Eleanor's thoughts and attempting to shatter her mind entirely. The feeblemind failed to take hold. But the thunder of footsteps came. More cultists were coming, a lot of them.

Eleanor clenched her jaw, shaking her head. We need to fucking leave, she sent to the others, eyes squeezing shut.  **I have a few more banishments, but they take a minute each. Do we have five minutes to try?** Even with that, though, she dropped the wall of fire and tried to banish the creature again.

They needed to make a decision quick. There was no way they could candle this monster and the other cultists. But they couldn’t allow this thing to stay here.  **No. You need to leave.** Anala focused on keeping her breath under control as she dragged the unconscious man out of the pool of acid that had accumulated at their feet. **I can take down the cave but the both of you need to dimension door to safety now.**

Evie’s head snapped to Anala, the suggestion registering,  **And leave you here with this thing? Fuck no.** She darted out of the way of several of the beast’s tentacles and remaining acid pools, trying to get across the area and closer to Anala, grabbing her shoulder as she approached,  **You can hear them out there. There's too many. What if you can’t get out? I can’t---we can’t just abandon you here. We still don’t know what the fuck this thing is.** Evie could feel the panic rising, her heart was hammering in her chest as she heard the cultists closing in and the creature making its awful sounds.

The first couple arrived from the tunnel beside the monster’s great head, only to be immediately snatched up and swallowed to feed the beast that was only getting angrier. The footsteps, the clanking of metal, the death rattle of the ancient aberration, it was all getting louder.

Eleanor swore when her banishment didn’t work, looking at her sister anxiously.  **Evie, she’s right. If she has a plan, we need to leave and let her do it. We’re in over our heads.** She glanced over to Anala, trying and failing to keep her panic down.  **You’ll come out after us, right?**

Anala grabbed the body of the unconscious cultist by the collar, lifting him up in front of herself. There was the faint cracking sound and Anala winced at the same time the man's eyes snapped open. Anala held him in front of her, watching the panicking monster lash out at them and his friends. "You ought to run now." He scrambled for his component pouch but froze as Anala tightened her grip on him. " _ Don't  _ ." She growled out, eyes fixed on the monster. At the very same time she was speaking through their bond.  **Dimension door out. All the way out of the cave. I'll join you in one minute.** She let go of the cultist as he ran.  **You have got the spell?**

Evie stepped around Anala sending off a firebolt at the advancing cultists, doing her best to keep them back, _One minute?? That was oddly specific._ Then it dawned on her, _She wasn’t planning to--_ **Anala no. How do we even know that will take care of all this?** The creature let out a terrifying screech, **Or** ** _that._** **What if you don’t have the energy to get out?** She stood her ground, **We either fight together or leave together.**

The cultists scattered momentarily with the firebolt. Some dodging and others throwing up shields. Ultimately the fire couldn’t dissuade the sheer number of cultists running in to try and fix this.

Eleanor swore again, looking around her.  **I have dimension door ready today. Evie, you need to trust her, she’s strong and she’ll either follow us out or we’ll come back for her. But we need to go.** She looked at Anala, jaw gritting when the creature screeched again.  **That acid fucked me up, so I need to go. And I’m not leaving without you, Evie. Anala will be** **_fine._ **

**Perfect.** Anala interrupted once she heard the confirmation for the dimension door. The monster lashed out at them and Anala threw up her arm, a translucent shield blocking the attacks. For the most part.  _ Fuck  _ . She looked at Evie, unscathed in comparison, throwing fire and standing off against something neither of them were capable of facing. Anala reached out, fingers brushing over that little line of blood trailing down her cheek. “Evie.” She stepped in front of her, pulling her face in towards hers and kissing her. The kiss tasted like soot and it hurt her heart and became the thing she centered her mind on. As she weaved in the first magic she’d ever known, winding around her arms, passing to Evie, all while she held that sweet kiss. The magic took hold, Evie turned to mist. Anala was alone. By herself in the acid and blood, but out of the corner of her amber coloured eyes she saw Evie with her sister by the exit. She smiled.

Evie tried to hear what her sister was saying but the ringing had started, her panic rising, and the creature was screeching. She couldn’t focus. The message was broken and her mind just would not grasp it fully. Something about leaving. Them leaving. Leave Anala here. Alone. Evie was about to say something to her sister when she heard her name, felt hands on her face, then Anala’s lips on hers. For a moment everything went still, all sensations focused on the kiss. Then Evie felt herself transported and before she had a chance to react Eleanor grabbed her arm and dimension doored them out of the compound with a loud POP.  **We’re out.** Eleanor’s voice came to Anala through the din and chaos. 

Anala breathed out, tiny wisps of flame coming with the breath. She pulled the edge of her smile in between her teeth, letting the roar of everything around her become meaningless white-noise. She'd make it out. An arrow struck her, sending yet more of her blood splattering across the ground and the mantle erupted. A kiss was sweet but the fire was oh-so familiar. The pain numbed. Feet left the ground. Eyes like tiny pinpricks of stars opened. In the sweet pause in their assault where the cultists recoiled, terrified, Anala breathed in.

The monster lashed out, a tentacle wrapping around Anala's forearm, trying to pull her down from where she'd flown to the ceiling. It couldn't stop her reaching up. It's flesh burned and charred, her fingers twisted, tearing rifts to another plane from which meteors came hurtling through. The cultists ran for cover but they weren't the target. Meteors hit the walls, the ceiling, every crack that had formed in the cave pummeled by tons upon tons of magically pushed force. It started to come down around them. The tentacle fell from around her arm. A rock slammed into her and she dropped. 

On her knees, she was forced to throw her arms up against a tide of rubble she'd caused. A blinding wall of flaming orange light over her head, catching the rockfall. Then more fire. 

The cultists were long gone, sprinting down their collapsing tunnels. The monster pinned, too large to avoid it all. Then Anala. Still summoning all the fire at her disposal to tear the place down around them. Tear it down she did. Time ticked on, her minute was almost up. 

Her view of the cave outside of her shelter dwindled to nothing, as the cave became nothing, as she buried herself. All that kept it at bay was the small square of light above her head. It's time ticking too. The rumbling noise still hadn't stopped. With the last of her energy she lifted her chin to look up at the barrier. Through the haze in her mind she found a quiet prayer, closing her eyes and dismissing the wall of light.

Anala passed out before she could register if the rocks above her held without the wall. A dusting of pebbles and sand falling with her the last thing she felt.

  
  



	14. Rubble Trouble

Evie felt her feet hit the soft ground of the swamp. She felt a pressure on her arm. She still couldn’t hear much, the ringing was still present but it was slowly fading. There was less sound, but she was still frozen in place. For a moment she brought a hand to her lips, then pulled away, her good eye focusing down at it. Struggling, she was trying to process what just happened, but her mind flipped and tumbled refusing to grasp onto any one particular, coherent thought. “Wha-?” 

El squeezed Evie’s arm, trying to look in her sister’s eyes. “Hey,” she said softly, shaking her. “Look at me. Are you okay? Did you get hurt at all?” She was looking rough: some of her skin was raw and red from the acid burns, there were holes in her clothes, and there was some blood on her face that had been ineffectually wiped away with a dirty sleeve.

Evie’s eyes lingered on her hand for a moment more, then slowly she turned her head to her sister, “I-what just?” her voice was shaky, her mind still running, trying to figure out where they were as she looked around, “I’m okay...I’m...”

“Good, good.” Eleanor sighed with relief, reaching over to place her other hand on her sister’s shoulder. “You’re okay. We’re safe. Take a deep breath for me.” She put on a smile, but it was tired and barely there. Part of her felt like she was going to fall over, her knees shaking as she stood. “Do you have a healing potion?”

Evie reached for her bag, but it wasn’t there. Evie looked down at her hip where it usually lay. She furrowed her brow, it didn’t make sense that she wouldn’t have it. What would she have done with it? It took her a moment, the acid...acid from...something. The acid must have eaten through the strap. The acid…creature….it was from a massive creature...in a cave…..a massive creature from another plane and the cultists. They were fighting...she looked around, eye’s going wider, “Eleanor…..where’s Anala?”'

“She’s coming.” El sighed, patting herself down. No luck on the potions. “She’ll be here soon. Take another deep breath. It’s gonna be okay.”

She stared at her sister a moment, fear settling in the pit of her stomach, “El...El  _ no. Why?  _ We shouldn’t have.” she looked over her shoulder, her pace picking up “No. No. Nononononono.” Everything hit in full clarity. The creature, the cultists overwhelming them, Anala kissing her. She brought a hand to her lips again, the rest of the last few moments flooding back. Her head snapped back to the entrance of the cave a bit away.

“Because she said to. And I trust her.” El squeezed Evie’s shoulders, trying to look confident. “It’s going to be okay. I promise. Give her the minute she asked for, and then she’ll be out here too. 

Evie’s gaze returned to her sister as Eleanor spoke. Then, there was a slight cracking sound. Then another. Evie’s head snapped back to the entrance, “No!” she threw her sisters hand off of her, pushing her back and turning to run back towards the cave. Back to Anala. Just as she was about to get to the entrance she saw the walls bowing in, rocks falling, the whole of it crumbling down. She let out another cry as she barreled in using every ounce of power she had left to Catapult rocks and boulders out of the way, then resorting to her hands and own brute strength when she felt the last bit of magical energy she had expended. “Anala!” she cried out, trying to find her. Doing anything she could to get to her. Throwing rocks and pushing past the collapsed bits as hot tears streamed through the layer of dirt and grime on her face, “ _ Anala!”  _

\-------

A few minutes later, trapped and buried in the dark, Anala coughed. It hurt to breathe when the air was filled with dust and her body ached from a long fight. But she was alive, that was nice. She closed her eyes, focusing on sending a message through the telepathic bond.  **Hey… so um… I’m ok.** She really hoped they were hearing her.  **Fell asleep for a little while but…** Her ears strained to hear anything. What she was met with was rock moving, she didn’t think she wanted to hear that.

She froze from her rock flinging as she heard Anala’s voice. Letting out a breath of relief she wiped her eyes with shaky hands,  **Nine hells Anala. You’re alive. Just...just...stay still. I’m digging you out.** She took a breath and continued pulling rocks away,  **Eleanor. Can you do the tower?**

Eleanor felt a little shaky, but nodded.  **I can do the tower. Depending on how deep it is, I have passwall ready today. Downside, it’s only twenty feet at the longest.** She looked around, thinking.  **Tower takes ten minutes if you want to hunt for Anala. Stay alive, alright, Anala?**

**Yeah.** Her voice was so tired she sounded relaxed, carefree almost, though that part was more intentional.  **Staying still, staying alive. No problemo.** Moving definitely wasn’t a priority. She wasn’t keen to rush into finding out if she even could. After a long moment…  **I think I hear you.** She was almost there. Anala opened her eyes, shifting her head to look over at the wall of rock she hoped she’d be seeing Evie through soon.

**Go closer to the horses. Make the tower. We’ll be there soon. Please El.** Her voice was strained, but stern. Evie turned back to focusing on getting Anala out. She was more careful where she was pulling rocks from now, trying to keep things from collapsing more. After a bit more moving and digging she saw her, “Hang tight. I see you.” she pulled away more rocks, straining against the weight of some of the bigger ones, “That was...really dumb you know.” she moved the last of them, walking to the little pocket Anala was in and kneed down, hands out to assist, “Can you sit up?”

**On it. Stay safe.** Eleanor sighed, starting towards the horses. There was a small clearing, just enough space for her to cast the tower. She had burned through her lower-energy spells, but had enough left to make a four-story tower. She planned it out as she worked: empty bottom floor, then a spa, then a kitchen, then the sleeping room like they’d been doing. It would still take ten minutes, though; hopefully, enough time for Evie to find Anala and get back.

Anala was covered in dust, blood and acid, laying on her side, rocks sticking uncomfortably into her back. “Hey.” Anala greeted. Few words, just focus on breathing. Closing her eyes again, she groaned as she pushed herself up to sit. Very slowly. With a lot of shuffling of her weight onto her hands at different points. “Mhm, ‘m tired.” Very tired.

A small smile played at Evie’s lips, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at Anala, “You look like shit too.” she reached down and carefully pulled Anala up, wrapping an arm around her and providing support, “El is making the tower. Let’s get you there. Can you walk at all? I can support you.”  **We’re on our way,** Evie sent to Eleanor.

**Cool. Still working. See you soon.** Eleanor smiled to herself a little, glad to hear that Evie and Anala were alright enough.  **Can you dimension door or are you just gonna climb out?**

“Hey.” She said again, managing to sound slightly offended. It was good to see Evie was alright. Anala moved slow, getting her hand up to hook onto Evie’s shoulder, leaning into her. “Not on my own.” She took a step, feeling heavy, but not falling just yet.

**I’m tapped. We’ll be there soon.** She smirked at Anala, holding onto her a bit tighter, hands stinging from the cuts, “Well I’m here so just lean on me and we’ll get there. Gonna have to walk some but if it gets to be too much let me know.” Evie started leading them out of the corridors and towards where her sister was constructing the tower. 

**Alright. Be careful. Maybe try finding your bag so I can get a potion.** With that, Eleanor shook her head, knowing that neither of them could see. Now that the panic was subsiding, she definitely wanted to tease her sister about that kiss. And maybe Anala, but… Mostly just Evie. That would be a  _ blast  _ .

Anala tipped her head into Evie’s shoulder, nodding against her. She kept walking. Especially when her knees felt like they were going to give out, she hung onto the idea of fresh air. Swamp or not, it was better than staying buried. Time passed by dizzyingly. 

It took a bit longer than Evie thought it would, but they eventually made it. She smiled up at the tower, “She’s getting better.” Evie said it more to herself then anything, she was proud of the work her sister had been doing. She pushed open the door, “Eleanor! We’re here!” she turned to Anala, “You alright? We should get you cleaned up. Food. Then sleep.” 

Eleanor had just finished when she turned, spotting Evie and Anala coming over. “Hey!” She grinned, looking up at her tower. “Glad to see you’re both still alive. Wanna come in? I made the spa, so we can get cleaned up. Then I want to eat something and fucking  _ sleep.  _ ” She looked Anala over, a little worried. “Did you get your bag, Evie? I think I have some potions in my things with the horses, but I haven’t checked yet. Worst case, getting some sleep should help.”

Getting cleaned up sounded good. Food sounded good as well. Then sleep. She hummed, only audible to Evie as a vague response to her question. Anala did manage to lift her head, greeting Eleanor with a long blink and a short nod. 

Evie stayed around until she was sure Anala didn’t need her help anymore. The last thing she wanted to do was leave but she needed to go find her bag. She took an hour and changed Kore into her dog form then made her way back to the rubble sifting through until they found what she was looking for. It took awhile, even with the aid of Kore’s nose, and by the time she was done she was beyond exhausted. Trudging back to the tower, broken bag in hand, she headed up to the sleeping area, setting one of Jo’s potions next to Anala and handing off another to her sister before heading down to the spa to finally get herself cleaned up and tend to her torn up hands. She soaked for a while just trying to keep her mind clear and process just….everything. So much happened and she just wanted to….not think about any of it. Once she was done she checked on Anala, instructing Kore to stay by her, before grabbing a blanket and heading to the roof, partly to see her sister’s handiwork, and second to just...unwind. It had been a day.

Eleanor had soaked for a while, hoping to get the stiffness out of her muscles. She’d been flopped in a nest of pillows after that, though, and when she saw Evie grab a blanket she followed. She’d wrapped up in a blanket of her own, climbing the ladder after her sister. “Hey,” she murmured, smiling. “D’you mind some company?”

Evie was looking up at the stars, tonight they were obscured by a thick layer of clouds that were rolling in. Evie had a feeling they’d be dealing with snow soon, “Hmm? Oh yeah. Sure. Crazy day huh?” 

“Fucking wild,” Eleanor agreed, sitting next to Evie. “I’m so damn exhausted. Too many spells, too much damage. You doing okay?”

Evie looked forward, wrapping her arms around her tucked in legs, “I’m okay. I….didn’t like how things went today. But...I get it.” she let out a small sigh, “It’s over. We can leave once Anala is feeling better. That’s all that matters right now.” 

“Yeah, it was kind of a mess.” Eleanor nodded, wrapping an arm around her sister’s shoulders. “We could all use a lot of sleep. The tower stays up for twenty-four hours, so we can stay as long as we need to.” At the mention of Anala, though, she couldn’t help but smirk and tease. “That’s all that matters, huh? Anala feeling good?”

Evie tried to keep her anger at bay, “Yeah a big mess. We were in over our heads. We’re staying here. You might have to recast it. I don’t know how long Anala needs to rest but we’ve seen what her mantle does to her. We don’t leave until she’s better. And right now, yes. That’s all that matters. She could have  _ died  _ Eleanor.” At that last sentence she looked at her sister, worry clearly on her tired face. 

“Yeah, no kidding. We really fucked up.” El sighed, hugging Evie close. “I know. We all could’ve. That acid fucked me up. But…” She looked over, smiling a little. “That kiss, though.”

Evie had done everything she could to not think about  _ that,  _ because she still didn’t understand it. She went to say something a few times but each time words failed her, so she settled on burying her face, letting out a muffled strangled groan. 

Eleanor laughed softly, squeezing Evie. “You’re so fucking ridiculous,” she murmured. “I’m pretty sure she likes you, dumbass. As much as you like her.” Part of her felt some guilt, remembering Evie’s missing memories, but… That could wait.

Evie let out a sigh, “I just....” she leaned her head into her sister, “I was so  _ scared  _ El. The last time I felt that was when we were caught across the border. I…I’m just glad everything is okay.” she wanted to say more but everything she tried to say stopped as soon as it hit her tongue. 

“I know. I was scared, too. But we’re okay.” El shook Evie’s shoulder gently. “I promise. We’re fine. So you should probably talk to her about that whole thing.”

“That was the plan.” she fidgeted with her blanket a bit, “But she needs to rest. She’s been through enough today. No need to add to it.” she sighed again, wrapping her blanket tighter around her, “Can you lay off the teasing for a bit? I...this is complicated and I’m not exactly sure...I just...give me time to figure things out? I know you like teasing me but I need a break. After everything we’ve been through today. Please?” 

“We all need the rest, but she needs even more.” Eleanor nodded, leaning to kiss Evie on the cheek. “I can cut back on the teasing, sure. Do you want to talk about what’s so complicated? I know I’m not exactly the poster child for relationships, but I might be able to help you figure some stuff out.”

Evie let out a little laugh, “I wouldn’t even know where to begin to talk about any of it. Not exactly my area of expertise.” 

El looked up at the sky, shaking her head. There was a little guilt in her expression, but she hoped Evie wouldn’t notice it. “I mean, do you like her?”

“I…” she chewed the inside of her cheek, resting her chin on her knees and casting her eyes skyward, “I think so?” she could feel the heat coming to her face, “Like...I don’t know. I just...fuck. Yeah. Yeah I guess I do.” she covered her face with a hand, bracing for whatever smart comment her sister had coming.

“That’s pretty good.” El nodded a little. “And I mean, she kissed you, so I feel like she probably likes you. How’s that make you feel?”

Evie uncovered her face, surprised to not hear some sort of teasing comment, “Confused? I mean...there was  _ a lot  _ going on. I could have just been...a good way to distract me. I’m kind of a disaster that wears my heart on my sleeve. I’m sure she picked up something. It could have just been...a distraction.” 

“Evie. Are you an idiot?” El laughed, shaking her head. “You’re such a jackass. There’s tons of ways to distract someone that don’t involve kissing them straight on the mouth. I’m  _ pretty  _ sure she likes you.”

Evie pulled her blanket over her head letting out another muffled strangled groan, “I don’t  _ know  _ Eleanor. I said I’d talk to her about it so...I’ll figure it out, okay? I’ll talk to her.” she felt a small warmth in her chest at the thought of Anala reciprocating these very, very complicated feelings Evie had. 

“Fine, fine. I just want you to be happy, Evie. That’s all.” El snuggled closer, grinning. “And maybe once you figure it out, I can start teasing you. Sound fair?”

“I’m not going to agree to that cuz regardless you’re going to, shithead.” she reached out and ruffled her sister's hair, “We’ll see. Her feeling better is more important than anything I have going on.” 

“Yeah I am.” She laughed, slapping Evie’s hands away. “Okay, okay, c’mon. She’ll feel better soon. We can all just get a ton of sleep and eat some food, take care of ourselves, the whole nine. We’ll be fine.”

“A ton of sleep and food sounds  _ amazing  _ . I’m fucking exhausted. And on that note  _ we  _ should sleep.” she stood, offering a hand to her sister. 

“Let’s go.” El took Evie’s hand, getting up happily. “I feel like I’m gonna collapse soon. Sleep sounds amazing.”

Evie made her way down to the sleeping areas, curling up nearby Kore and Anala. Sleep came quickly for her as she succumbed to exhaustion. 

Eleanor stretched a little, looking over the scene in front of her. Everyone was curled up together, looking serene in their sleep. That made her smile more than she thought she could after the day they’d had. But then she was ready to sleep, curling up next to her twin amidst the piles of blankets and pillows. “Good night,” she mumbled, quickly joining the others in sleep.

  
  
  



	15. Sweetness & Sulfur

Anala had managed to wake up a couple of hours ago after having slept for more than half a day. She’d been going slow, still incredibly tired. After washing up and changing into a different set of comfortable clothes to keep as comfortable as physically possible, she settled back into a spot in the sleeping room with a full waterskin and a plate full of everything and anything in the kitchen that needed no preparation to eat. That already felt like enough work for the day.

Kore, still in her dog form, scrambled up into the sleeping area, bounding over to Anala with her tail wagging wildly. “Koreeeee! No let her rest.” Evie’s voice came from below as she made her way up, “Hey Anala. Sorry, she’s….very excitable in this form.” she clicked her tongue trying to get Kore over to her, but the pup ignored her, “She’s a total butthead too apparently.” Evie shook her head, looking to Anala, her expression soft, “How are you feeling? Wasn’t sure you were ever going to wake up.” 

Anala smiled at the happy, bouncing puppy as she hopped over to her, reaching out to give her a head scratch. “She’s okay. You’re both more than welcome to join me up here.” Her voice was airier and quieter than normal, but she counted it as a personal win that she was comfortable speaking in complete sentences at all. Anala picked a piece of cheese off her plate and offered it to Kore to take a sniff and see if she’d like to eat it. “Better than yesterday, still dead tired. Please don’t mind me if I pass out in the middle of the day and take another fifteen hours or so…” She winced a little at the idea of it, but she’d known this type of exhaustion had been coming. “Do you want to join me?” Anala tipped her head in a gesture to the spot at her side.

Kore gobbled up the cheese happily then bounded over to Evie, then back to Anala. Watching her, Evie let out a little laugh, “Uh. Sure.” she stepped fully into the room, feeling a lump forming in her throat. She did tell her sister she’d talk to Anala, but Evie had kind of hoped to put it off because she was an absolute coward but this could be a good a time as any...she’ll just see where things went. She walked over and plopped down next to Anala, “I’m glad you’re feeling better. That whole thing was...pretty crazy huh?” Kore bounded around the room a few more times before settling with a satisfied huff next to Anala. 

Anala gave Kore another pat when she came back, a little ‘well done’ for being so cute. “Pretty crazy is about right.” It hadn’t been how she’d expected it to go down. There was so much she wanted to say. None of it was working for her right now though. “How have you been? Taking care while I’ve been napping?” She’d better have been.

“I’ve been alright. We all slept in today. I went back over to the...where all that shit happened. Looks pretty cleared out so uh...good job on that. Glad you didn’t… you know die.” she bumped Anala’s shoulder with her own, trying to keep some levity to her voice, despite that having been a very real fear of hers the day before. 

On instinct Anala swayed into Evie’s shoulder to bump it back, overestimating her ability to bounce back off it. She got there eventually. “That’s good.” Glad she hadn’t put up all that confidence in her plan only to fail. That would have been embarrassing. Anala looked to Evie. “I wasn’t going to die. Not ever on a mission from _them_ , that’s for sure. I was always going to be okay.” She assured quietly, regretting that she hadn’t had the time to try convincing her of that at the time.

Evie let out a small laugh, shaking her head, “If you say so. Looked real bad from where I was standing.” Evie had a lot of opinions about what had happened, about how many things could have gone wrong, how there was no guarantee for any of it, “I’m just glad everything turned out okay. At the end of the day that’s what matters right?” she looked down at her hands flexing them open and closed. They were very sore and still a bit cut up from the day before, "Anala, I…" she furrowed her brow, whatever thought she was starting disappearing from her mind entirely as she had started to speak. There were a million things she could say, wanted to say, but all she could manage was "I'm really glad you're okay." 

Anala's lips twitched up into a slight smile as Evie laughed, even if it was a small one, and slightly bitter. It was nice that she could laugh. "We're all okay." She whispered quietly, watching her as she stared at her hands. There was a tinge of guilt about how it had all gone down, how that must have been for Evie. It hadn't been... the best. Anala's eyes snapped back up to watch her profile as she spoke her name and stopped, waiting for what was to come next. The assurance came and Anala was feeling that little bit warmer. "Can I kiss you again?" Anala asked quietly, still just watching her.

Her head snapped up, still staring forward but eyes wide, wondering if she heard right? Idiot. She thought to herself, knowing she heard the question perfectly right. Evie could feel the heat rising into her face as she swallowed the lump in her throat, looking to Anala, "Oh...um...mmhum." was all she could eek out as she gave a small nod. Words in every language she knew completely and totally failing her.

Anala’s eyebrows rose. Slowly her smile grew too. “It’s ok if you’re not cool with it, might be a bit awkward after all that yesterday, but it’s up to you.” She teased like she hadn’t been watching carefully enough to notice the tiny nod. As she spoke she leaned in towards Evie, watching her lips. “Is now okay?” She asked with a laugh in her tone.

Evie nodded again, "Y-yeah" she reached out, taking Anala's cheek into her hand and leaning into her. She wasn't sure what to expect but as soon as their lips met she relaxed, eyes closing. Every worry melted away to the taste of sweetness and sulfur. It filled Evie's senses completely, making everything feel both fuzzy and acutely sharp at the same time. She could feel her heart hammering in her chest, coupled by a warmth that still felt alien to her. But it was something she could definitely get used to.

Anala's lips twisted to a smile into the kiss for a fraction of a second. Then she just relaxed, melted into it and the fatigue didn't seem too bad anymore. Just for a moment. She hadn't had a lot of chances to meet someone like her, to get to know her and grow attached and want to kiss her long before actually doing it. Then kissing her again. This was something Anala had been missing out on. By the Archeart if she passed out soon and started questioning whether this part was real or not she'd be so pissed off. When the kiss broke off the soft smile was right back again. "I'm sorry I panicked you. I definitely like some of the things that are coming out of that whole ridiculous situation, but I don't like making you stress." She looked down to find her hand, taking it in hers.

As they parted Evie let out a quiet, shaky laugh, "Stress is part of the whole thing, _mein lieber_. Being what we are. Especially when there's feelings involved." Evie watched her, head still spinning a bit. Eleanor had been right, of course, but it was still difficult to fully process. Anala has seemed so far outside her reach, outside her league and yet...here they were. She brought Anala's hand to her lips brushing it with a soft kiss, "Good and bad. Balance." Her eyes met Anala's once more, "I will say, this time was much more pleasant than the last." She offered a small smile. Her eyes flashing to her lips again for but a moment, a part of her craving for another kiss but also wanting to stay at Anala's pace, since she was still recovering.

The laugh was cute. The Zemnian endearment, at least she was assuming that’s what it was, was cute. The kiss to her hand was cute, reminiscent of the polite noble society they’d both grown up in. Evie was cute. “You’re not keen on kissing when we’re covered in acid? I will note that for the future.” She joked like it was a rare preference to have. It hadn’t been ideal but Anala was sticking by her decision. That kiss had been her good luck. “So now we’re done with the mission and we’re on break, we’ll be back in the city for a little while, we could go somewhere together.” She’d want to spend a little more time recovering but she was determined not to waste her time off too.

“Oh the Acid wasn’t a problem, it was the whole...being sent away and unable to entirely enjoy it that I didn’t care much for.” she let out another small laugh. It was going to be nice to have some time free from obligation, to just….be, until it was time to go back “And absolutely. Once you’re feeling well enough. Anywhere in particular you want to go?” 

Anala cringed internally, a touch of guilt still lingering from what had gone down. The laugh was reassuring. Onto lighter topics. “I know some nice cafes? I like the outside, we’ll have to see how the weather turns out. Orrr we could go to a gallery? You’re good at art, you can point out the good ones, and tell me which artists are pretentious?” Her voice was still very tired, but there was a focus in her now. A noticeable excitement for whatever plan they came up with bleeding through.

Evie smiled as she heard the slight excitement bubbling up from Anala, “I mean most galleries are pretty stuffy but there’s a few that are pretty good. Haven’t been in a really, _really_ long time. If you don’t think you’d be bored out of your mind I’d love to go. I mean we have a few days so I don’t see why we can’t do several of those things. I could give you a full and proper tour of the estate too.” she studied Anala for a moment, tilting her head. She raised a hand and lightly brushed back some hair to get a better look “Anala, your ears. Is it because you're tired?” 

If she’d be going on her own it might be an issue. But if she went with Evie and got to say cheesy pick up lines as they walked around she was sure she’d be endlessly entertained. “I’d like that.” Anala’s eyebrows lifted as Evie seemed to look past her, then reach out for her hair. Her ears had fallen, clearly pointing down when they’d been up yesterday. Subtle, but hard to deny after someone had spotted it. A light blush rose across her nose and cheeks. “Um, yeah. When I’m really tired, or sad for a while and… the ears start pointing down.” She gave a sheepish smile, tugging on the end of one of her ears. “Um, that reminds me, could you help me? I took the earrings out to wash them and then uh, I couldn’t find how to put them back in. I’ve been… yeah, so I gave up easy. Been meaning to ask?” 

Evie frowned a bit at the explanation, "Good to know." Then a mischievous smile tugged at the corner of her lips, both from the adorable slight blush on Anala's face and a thought that crossed her to mind, "I'll have to remember to keep an eye on them then. So… It's kind of a mood indicator. Like my tail...only it's less...immediate?" Without consciously thinking to her tail thunked slightly against the floor as if furthering the point. Evie couldn't help but let out a small laugh as it surprised her. "Sorry about that. Of course I can help. Do you want them now or to help with later?" 

That smile was _concerning_ , but exciting and the happy tail thunk never failed to pull a smile from Anala. “Yeah. Less in the moment, more just… lasting stuff.” Otherwise she’d be certain they’d have managed to look a little less sad and droopy once Evie had come in and they’d started talking. “Can we do them now? Or I am.. going to forget.” She confessed with a breathless laugh. 

"I get that. I always put mine back in as soon as I'm done or I'd do the same. I lose them all the time too, it's why I always carry extras. Especially with how many I have now." Evie ran a hand along one of her own ears, half making sure she had put all hers back in. She reached over and picked up Anala's earrings and got to work affixing them for her. Trying to be gentle as she remembered Anala's comments about them being sensitive. "It gets easier with practice. Using a mirror helps until you get a feel for it." She ran her fingers across one of the chains, "They do look _really_ good on you. And they've healed well too." Evie became acutely aware how close she was while making her observations. Hells she was gorgeous, and it was adorable how she asked for help with this, yet at the same time was capable of bringing down an entire cave on a creature from another plane. Evie felt like an idiot for not being honest with herself until the day before. As far as Anala was concerned, Evie didn't stand a chance, she was a goner. She checked both ears to make sure the chains weren't tangled then took Anala's cheek in her hand, running a thumb along her cheekbone, "There. Perfect." 

Anala held onto her ankle with both hands, squeezing tight and preparing for the little needle to go through her sensitive and (at the moment) rather sad ears. She winced once, but it was mostly reflexive. Evie was gentle and it was never as bad as the anticipation built it up to be. “I’m so glad I got them.” She sighed out, content. It hadn’t hurt for nearly as long as she’d expected, it had been clean too. Very little fuss if they didn’t count her tired fumbling trying to get them- oh hey. Anala’s train of thought drifted off as she looked up at Evie holding her cheek, tipping her face into her hand. They were close enough that Anala’s attention switched, between soft white and shiny green eyes. “Come ‘ere.” Anala whispered, beckoning her down a few inches closer so she could kiss her again.

Evie lips turned up in a smirk as she obliged, closing the distance to kiss her. Again the same rush as before hit Evie, dizzying and consuming her senses completely and absolutely wonderful. It was almost overwhelming and she wasn't sure if she'd ever get used to it. Then again, she wasn't sure if she'd ever want to. After a moment she pulled away a little, somewhat reluctantly, her face a bit flushed and her head still spinning, "Not to like….ruin the moment or anything, or well, I mean, I don't think it will...interrupted may have been better to say...but I" she paused a moment trying to collect to her thoughts, "…fuck how do people do this?" She let out a small, nervous laugh, "Can I ask you something?" It was a simple question, why was it all coming out so dramatic?

  
Anala gave a happy hum, looping her arm up around her shoulders to bring her closer. A warmth spread through her, slowly but surely it was settling in that this was getting to be something, she could have this. Evie made her feel warm. Anala peaked her eye open a second later, seeing the blush and the awkwardness, far more energy than she had. With a soft laugh, Anala nodded along, letting her take her time. A little bit enjoying the ramblings. “Ask me anything, darling.” She answered softly. 

She looked away a moment, trying to get her thoughts sorted out. Her sister's teasing words floating in her head. After a few beats Evie looked back at Anala, "What...what does all this mean? I won't pretend that I'm very experienced when it comes to anything remotely like this….whatever this is...and I...I know you've been through a lot over the last day and you're still recovering so don't feel any obligation or pressure to answer...I just...shit. " she rested her forehead on Anala's shoulder briefly, trying to collect herself. Her heart was hammering in her chest as she took a breath and looked back up, "…I…you're amazing Anala. I know my sister and I are always complimenting how you look but you're so much more than that. You're tenacious, humble and kind. You're one of the most selfless people I've ever met, with so much heart. You could charm literally anyone without magic. Clearly." She made a small motion to herself, "Cuz I'm rambling like an idiot right now….you could also totally and completely kick my ass and I'd probably thank you for it." A small, slightly nervous laugh escaped her, "Everything has been so fucking crazy, I feel like every time I turn around everything is falling apart. Except when you show up. I thought….at first it was maybe just the fact that you kind of get what I'm trying to do with my group. But you also get _me_. In a way that no one else has. I then kinda just figured it was because our positions in our groups were similar, but…especially with this trip...mission...I…I've come to really care about you Anala more than I ever expected and if this is too much just say the word, I'll back off. But….I just...needed to get this off my chest and figure out whatever this is." She took a breath finally, feeling a bit lightheaded, "I...I hope that's ok. Sorry that was...a lot more than I had been planning to say, but I figured trying to be direct was the only way I was ever going to be able to do this." Another small nervous laugh escaped her before she took a small breath and looked at Anala.

As she listened to Evie, Anala dropped her arm from around her shoulders, looped loose around her waist. She wanted to kiss her again, or take her hands, or brush her hair back. The words were just too sweet, they made her heart swell. She kept herself from doing any of that, not wanting to cause a distraction for both of them when they had something they needed to talk about. As tempting as it was. Finally, Evie took a breath for herself. When she looked back up at Anala, for a second all she had for her was a bright smile. Then she did speak. “I _adore_ you.” She breathed out like it was a secret between the two of them, promptly planting a kiss on her nose. “And I care about you. I don’t know what this is, or what it will be with everything else that’s going on. But right now?” She wrapped her arms around her middle. “I’d like to call you my girlfriend. I wanna go to cute places together, cuddle, plan and commit treasonous crimes, make out. You know, couple stuff.”

Evie let out the breath she didn't realize what was holding as she broke out into a smile. She took Anala's face in her hands and kissed her again gently, "Just no treasonous crimes until you're back on your feet." She wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer, "El is never going to let me hear the end of this, but it'll be _entirely_ worth it." 

“But the other stuff, we can do that.” Anala would compromise on the treason, for now. Evie was onto something in her assumption that she might just be a little bit too tired. She gave a happy little sigh and curled her arms around Evie a tad bit tighter, leaning into her as she was pulled closer. 

She gave a little affirmative hum, a soft smile on her face, "Yes. We can. But now? You should rest. I've got nothing to do so I'm going to stay here if you don't mind. El's going to need to recast the tower later so I'll make sure you're up before then." She pressed a kiss to Anala temple.

Anala made sure her plate was at a safe distance and leaned into Evie, hugging her close and tipping them both to fall into the blanket pile she’d gathered. “Thank you.” She spoke, muffled against her shoulder. “Are you comfy?” Anala asked as her eyes were already falling closed while she clung to Evie.

Evie fell back with a slight laugh, “Incredibly.” She rested her cheek on the top of Anala’s head as Kore got up and shifted a bit to snuggle up against Anala as well. Evie smiled to herself, completely content as she held Anala a little tighter.

  
  



	16. Homeward

After a lot of napping, dragging Evie to cuddle with her, and making sure she got herself up enough to eat and drink, she was ready to try teleporting them back to the city. They'd been careful, not wanting to strain something by casting a high level spell when she was this tired. But she was keen to get all of them home. Stretching her fingers by clenching and unclenching them, she began to find and set up her ritual space while the twins handled the rest of the pack up.

Eleanor had done the packing she needed to do, and after confirming with Evie that she could handle polymorphing the horses, she’d wandered down to watch Anala work on the ritual. “Hey,” she called, curiosity plain on her face. “Do you mind if I join you?”

Anala glanced up at Eleanor from her spellbook. “Please do.” She could always go for some company. Anala walked around the space she was considering, poking the toe of her boot at the ground to see if it was too soft to start drawing the teleportation circle.

El smiled, taking a seat on the ground to watch. “I want to learn this spell at some point. Seems pretty damn useful.” After a moment more of quietly watching, she grinned, the spade of her tail thumping softly against the dirt. “So. You and Evie.”

When Anala was happy with her little perimeter check she walked back over to join Eleanor, sitting herself down beside her. “Me and Evie?” Anala copied back to her, smiling as she pulled out her component pouch to shuffle through it for the chalk. She reached for words beyond that, then drew a blank and just laughed. “You’re my dear friend, but you’re also her sister and I honestly have no idea how to approach this.” Anala confessed with a laugh at herself.

“Dear friend? I do like that.” El was still grinning, her tail still thumping the ground behind her. “And yes, I am her sister. And that’s what I’m trying to address, as an obnoxious and caring sister.” She looked over to the elf, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Mostly, I’m just glad to see her happy. And then I wanted to add just a little bit of the standard ‘if you hurt her I will be very upset with you’ kind of thing, threats, the whole thing. Which I’m sure you can understand.”

"Can't imagine calling you anything less." Anala smiled across at her, hearing the sound of tail thumps and being glad of it. She gave a knowing look the moment she started elaborating. Humming as they got to 'if you hurt her'. "Crystal clear, I adore Evie, and I'm glad I can make her happy. She makes me happy." Anala trailed off, then snapped back. "I can handle any threats you'd like to pass on, it's the least I can do for what my family might do when they find out. Jerky?" Anala held out a small pouch of jerky she'd brought down from the tower's kitchen.

“I like it. And I’m glad you understand.” El leaned a little closer, arm going around Anala’s shoulders. “No, I think the vague threats get the point across nicely enough. What’s your family liable to do if they find out about you dating a well-off noble? Is it the tiefling part, or the girl part, you think?” She took a piece of jerky, nibbling happily. “Or were you in some sort of arrangement like I was? Those are such a fucking hassle.”

"Hm, vague threats are pretty good." Anala flipped a page in her book and started tracing out the circle. "I uh, meant to say my family as in the people I travel with.” She corrected herself with a soft laugh. “They won’t have a problem with any of that, but they are very protective. My mother is another story but she's all the way up north so.." Anala gave an innocent shrug. "What happened with your ...arrangement?"

“Much easier. Requires a lot less thinking, and we both get the point. Bodily harm, psychological torment, whatever.” El watched Anala’s work, humming. “Sounds reasonable. I’m pretty protective of Evie, so it stands to reason they’re protective of you. Doesn’t mean I’ll rescind the vague threats, though.” At the question, she sighed, looking away for a second. “He called it off. I don’t know why, but… I feel like Evie had something to do with it. They disappeared for a bit when we were at Blockbrau for Elbridge’s birthday, and a few days later, he said he wanted to see the world and make choices for himself. Which I respect a lot, and… I want him to be happy, and I think that’ll be a better route for him.”

"Definitely not asking you to rescind, I'm going to feel a lot better about whatever my group ends up doing if you lay it on real thick. Keep 'em coming." She joked. "Aw man, doesn't everyone? That's good then. Hope it goes well for him." Now neither of them were stuck, they got to call it off without issue. Eleanor had her partners and everything was starting to look up. "Feeling alright about it?" 

“Oh, for sure. Lots of spells I could use. Very threatening, _very_ violent, that’s me.” El’s voice was light and playful, her tail thumping the ground again. “Yeah, he deserves it. Us being betrothed… It’d really cement him in Rexxentrum. He wants to be a good leader, take care of the people he’s supposed to represent. I think this is better. And… I feel alright about it. Da’leth was _pissed,_ which was a little scary. But things ending because of him instead of me might have helped.”

"A regular super villain, you are." Anala beamed, glad she was happy despite the turn in the conversation. She swayed, bumping her shoulder into El's. "He's always a little grumpy though, isn't he?"

“I do my best.” El bumped Anala back, nodding. “He really is. He’s such a fucking dick. All this--” She motioned to her head, vaguely indicating the scar and short hair. “--happened after my last mission. I got back with no offensive spells and he threw me into a sparring match. Fucker.”

Anala's eyes traced over the scar and short hair. "It looks good on you. Don't get me wrong, the situation sucks ass and Da'leth is a mother fucker, but you can work it." She told her confidently. 

“Thank you. I’m liking it more than I thought I would. And… It’s nice to not have some expectations on me anymore. They were starting to chafe.” El smiled a little, looking down at her hands for a moment. “I definitely learned my fucking lesson, though. I need to have more patience, more tact. More strategy, really.”

"Ahh I'm all for figuring out a little bouncing back after a mistake but... I hope you're not taking these lessons from Da'Leth's mouth? Like we said, the dude's a grade-a asshole." It was hard, learning to improve felt like it might be unsteady ground for Eleanor, it was something to be proud of, something to support... But if it was Da'Leth, he was a real shitful person and Anala had an issue with the idea of 'teaching' her or her friends anything.

“Oh, gods no. That’s my own conclusion.” El sighed again. “I absolutely fucked up because I rushed something. I wanted to leave, and I made mistakes that nearly got me killed. All of that was on me. If I’d had a little more patience, a little more tact… Maybe it would’ve gone differently. But I didn’t, and now… Here I am.” She shrugged a little, tail stilling. “Made me reflect on times I’ve made Evie’s life more difficult by not having tact or patience, so it was an important lesson. I’m not sure I’d have learned it if it didn’t hurt so much, anyway.”

Anala paused to take a short break during the ritual spell, leaning her arms forward on her knees. “Ok…” It sucked that it had to be something so big to make her notice, but better now than later, better that it had been a survivable lesson. Anala squished all those thoughts down. “You have a good chance to improve now, and you’re doing it. You should be proud.”

“I’m working on being proud.” El leaned back, hands on the ground behind her as she stared up at the sky. “I do think I’m getting better, though. Slowly. Which is good, right? I think… I hope I can keep improving. It’d be nice to be proud of myself, but I think it’d mean more to have Evie proud of me right now.”

"Oh, for sure." Slowly but surely. No drastic changes, those were freaky and she'd had enough of people doing those. Hopefully, Eleanor would be able to take care. "We all got something we need to work on, you're not alone in this, yeah?" She reminded her with a cheery smile.

“Fair enough.” El nodded, staring up at the cloudy sky. “I appreciate that.” There was a bit of a lull in the conversation, but she was alright with that. “So are we gonna meet everyone else on the team today? Or did we want to get some more rest in before that part of the adventure?”

Anala’s eyes lingered on her a moment longer, wanting to be sure she was ok, before turning her attention back to her ritual casting. “I wanna see how I feel after the teleport. I’m excited to have the two of you meet the whole group but I want to be able to appreciate that excitement? I’ll have to message and see where they’re at too in case they’re in the middle of something. They’ll love you.” She was confident they’d get along. It would be good to see them for her too… it might even be better to go meet them solo before bringing the twins along. That was way too much planning for right now, she shook her head.

“That makes sense. You gotta take care of yourself, first and foremost. You seem pretty exhausted, unless that was just an excuse to snuggle up with Evie.” There was a bit of laughter in her voice, but El was feeling a little distant. It was hard for her to tell if it was audible, but… It was hard to feel as connected to everything at the moment. Maybe it was the lingering guilt of keeping secrets, or the exhaustion, but she felt a little untethered. “I can understand that. Hard to really appreciate a moment when all you want to do is sleep. But if we’re getting back into town almost a week early, I think we can take an extra day to recover before we all meet up.”

Anala gave a happy, affirmative hum. “I am making it up to snuggle with Evie, it’s worth it.” She joked, mind wandering back to Evie at the soonest excuse. “It’ll be good to be home, won’t it?” As much as she’d loved camping with the two of them, it wasn’t quite like home.

Eleanor laughed again, shaking her head. “I knew it. It’s all been a long con to date my sister.” That was a nice way to pull herself out of her own thoughts, though, and she leaned forward to see what Anala was doing for the ritual. “I mean, sort of. Home isn’t exactly what it used to be anymore, at least for me. But it’ll be nice to be somewhere familiar again.”

“We make of it what we can, you know?” Anala shuffled up to her feet, dragging out the last of the sigil circle. “I’m almost done, could you please message Evie to see if she’s ready?”

“Yeah. Let me do that.” El stood as well, looking at the sigils on the ground as she touched her necklace. **Hey Evie, we’re almost done here. You ready to go?**

Evie grabbed her necklace, wrangling the now polymorphed horses. **Yeah. I’ll be there in a moment.** There was laughter in her voice. These things were _ridiculous._ She made her way over to Anala and Eleanor from the other side of the tower, one small furry creature hanging onto one of her horns and the other resting happily under the shoulder of her cloak, it’s little head barely peeking out, “I think I made an amazing choice if I do say so myself.” she announced as she made it to them, passing off a piece of dried fruit to the sugar glider on her horn, “I saw these in a book. They’re so much smaller than I thought but I think they're perfect for what we need.” She gave the other one a piece of fruit as well.

 ****Anala looked up from her work to see Evie coming back, and her face immediately crumpled at the sight of her girlfriend with tiny fuzzy little animals climbing over her. Her hands came up over her mouth. “Oh Gods.” She breathed out, halfway to a laugh. “Absolutely perfect.” She tucked her book away and prepared to draw the last of the sigil. Beckoning them over to stand with her, bumping her hip into Evie’s, completing the ritual and sending all of them back to Rexxentrum.

[ See you on the server :D ]


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